


Always

by halfbloodwithaSIGandapen



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s03e08-09 Human Nature/Family of Blood, F/M, Not Canon Compliant, Series Rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 36
Words: 54,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29325492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfbloodwithaSIGandapen/pseuds/halfbloodwithaSIGandapen
Summary: Rose has struggled to return to the Doctor, but when she finally succeeds, he doesn't remember her. Rewrite starting with Human Nature.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 66
Kudos: 167





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love stories with Rose returning during Human Nature/Family of Blood. There was one such story that inspired this one, but when I started writing this, I couldn’t find the other author to give credit. It was a much better story than this will be, and if I find it again, I will change this note. To those who have written Rose into these episodes: I greatly appreciate you.  
> Warning: I am not from the UK, so my dialect might be off sometimes. If someone wants to edit me, that would be great.

Rose was going to hear the end of that sentence if it killed her. She had not borne her heart to him to hear him say her name one last time. She had to get back to him. They’d broken through the walls between universes before, and they could do it again. It might just take a while to do it safely.

In the end, it took 4 years to build the dimension cannon, less than half the time Torchwood’s best scientists had estimated. The godly golden power that visited Rose in her dreams had a lot to do with that. Rose had been ready to start jumping through the void, the second the first drone returned, but Jackie begged her to stay one more day.

Rose slept in her parents’ home that night, instead of her own apartment. She felt she owed her mother that much. However, Bad Wolf made another appearance in her dreams that night, and she had other plans. Plans that meant Rose needed much more patience than she currently had.

“You have to wait,” the golden figure appeared right as Rose closed her eyes.

“I have to see him,” Rose countered, knowing exactly what her other self meant. “I’ve already lost almost five years of the little time I could have with him.”

“No, you have gained almost five years of time you wouldn’t have with your parents and Tony.” A mirror appeared in front of Rose. “It has been over six years since you looked into the heart of the TARDIS, but it does not shown on your face, and it never will.” Rose reached out to touch her won reflection, and she knew the Wolf was right. “Events will soon unfold in his universe, and they will need our power, but you are not yet ready. I will guide you to the right spot in his timeline, but only when I have finished my work with you.” Bad Wolf began to fade from her mind.

“Excuse me! Wait a minute! What do you mean ‘when you have finished you work with me?’ What-” It was no use. Bad Wolf had retreated further into Rose’s mind, and Rose slipped into a dreamless sleep.

~.~

Some of the “work” Bad Wolf had been referring to had become somewhat obvious over time. She started needing less sleep than she used to, and she still hadn’t aged. It took her mother and Mickey a few more years to notice that change, but she suspected it was willful ignorance. The “events” the Wolf had mentioned, seemed a little clearer too. The stars had started going out. Torchwood had used the dimension cannon to send drones to other worlds and saw the problem over and over again. But the stars were disappearing at a much slower rate in Pete’s world. Rose suspected Bad Wolf was somehow keeping the mysterious destructive force at bay in her current universe for the same reasons she was keeping Rose there, but Rose knew better than to complain. 

In the end, it was another 50 years after the dimension cannon was finished that Bad Wolf told Rose she could finally go home to the TARDIS. Jackie had passed away peacefully the year before, surrounded by her husband and two children. Pete passed away a few months later, not ready to live without Jackie again for any length of time. Tony was living happily with his own family, he didn’t need his big sister anymore, though he did give her one of the tightest hugs of her life when she told him she was leaving. Rose no longer had a personal stake in this universe, and she was desperate to reunite with the love of her life. It was finally time to go. 

~.~

When Rose appeared in the TARDIS, it was dark, like the TARDIS was sleeping. The Doctor’s face appeared on the monitor as if he had been paused. Rose ran her hand over the image of his face before rewinding and playing the video. The video offered Rose more questions than answers, plus a hint of jealousy that she tried to tamp down. She didn’t even know how long it had been for him. All she had to go on was that he hadn’t regenerated yet. Martha might not mean anything to him. _Or she could be his everything,_ her traitorous mind supplied.

Rose’s eyes began to droop, signifying that Bad Wolf was willing to talk, so she headed off to her old bedroom and got ready for bed.

“The Doctor is hiding from a Family of aliens. He has temporarily changed his biology to blend in with the humans, and he has taken a job at a nearby school. His memories are not real. He will not know you. They are expecting a new librarian to arrive tomorrow morning. Do not tell the Doctor anything yet. It is not time. You must hide as well.” The golden voice warned.

“Is he in danger? What do I do if the Family finds him?” Rose questioned quickly, surprised that the Wolf had stayed around to hear her questions. Might she actually get a straightforward answer this time?

“You have been his partner long enough to figure some things out on your own, but Martha will be there to help.”

Rose rolled her eyes at the lack of answer. She should’ve known better.

“Wait, librarian? I don’t know how to be a librarian.”

“I will guide you through you work. It will feel natural for you.” With that final promise, the golden light faded from Rose’s mind.

When Rose awoke a few hours later, a dark brown wig, a dress, a newspaper, and a packed suitcase were sitting on and by her vanity.

“1913? I hope he doesn’t plan on hiding for too much longer.” Rose grumbled to herself. She got dressed and put on the wig, only stopping to make a cup of tea before stepping out of the TARDIS and into the woods. She found she already knew the way to the school she was meant to work in. “I’ve already waited 54 years to see him, at your insistence, Bad Wolf. Why couldn’t you let me find him at a time when he’d remember me?” There was no answer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left comments and kudos!

Martha was tired. Ridiculously tired. For two months, she had scrubbed floors and dealt with obnoxious, spoiled, racist teenagers while the Doctor ignored her more than usual. Jenny offered some comfort, Martha didn’t know if she could have made it through these past couple months without her, but she couldn’t be honest with Jenny. She had no one to truly talk to.

Martha and Jenny were scrubbing the floor of the main entry way when two of the more problematic students walked by, judging them for laughing while they worked.

“… hands like those, how can you tell when things are clean?” The boys laughed and continued on their way.

“That’s very funny, sir.” Martha said with an air of dignity and pain, though the boys were too far to hear her.

Martha and Jenny were too focused on their own conversation to notice a young-looking brunette enter the building and approach them.

“Careful, now, don’t answer back.” Jenny chastised, understandingly.

“I’d like to dump my bucket over his head.” Martha replied, unaware of the additional ears in the hall.

“I’d suggest his shoes. It would be a little easier to explain away, but it would still upset a boy as spoiled as ‘im.” The two maids startled at the new voice.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I don’t mean anything by it.” Martha looked down at the floor.

“No need to apologize to me. I know how infuriating teenage boys can be.” Rose reached her hand out to Martha. “I’m Marion Prentiss.”

Martha hesitated but accepted her hand. “Martha, and this is Jenny.” Rose shook Jenny’s hand in turn.

“Would one of you be so kind as to show me to the headmaster’s office? I’m supposed to meet him.”

Martha rose to her feet. “I’d be happy to. Follow me.” The two women began walking down the hall towards a staircase.

That was when Rose caught her first sight of the man she loves, standing at the top of the stairs, fumbling awkwardly as he talked to another woman. As he tripped over his words, Rose noticed him stepping too close to the edge of the step and hastened her pace up the stairs. She set down her travel bag and, just as he began to fall, grabbed the Doctor’s shoulders and steadied him.

“Careful now.” Rose could barely contain her laugh, and she noticed Martha similarly struggling. Rose released his shoulders with a quiet apology.

“Oh, no need to apologize. That you have been embarrassing and probably rather painful.” The man finally looked her in the eyes, and Rose could have sworn she saw a brief hint of recognition as his eyes softened, and his smile grew. A genuine, though still timid, smile. “Ah, hello Martha.”

“Hello, Mr. Smith, Matron.”

“Well, we should probably bring these books back to the library before the new librarian arrives.” The Matron stated, with little humor to be found in her voice. _Someone’s not happy to see us._ Rose thought. _What did we interrupt?_

“That would be me. I’m glad the library is well used.” Rose smiled, forcing herself to look away from Mr. Smith.

“Ah, well then it’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss T-” Mr. Smith hesitated.

“Prentiss, Marion Prentiss.” Rose felt a little more hope grow in her chest at the flicker of recognition.

“John Smith, and this is Matron Redfern. Forgive me for not shaking you hand.” He lifted the stack of books a little higher. Rose nodded, not ready to hold his familiar hand while he didn’t really know her.

“It’s nice to meet you, but I’m afraid I must be on my way. I have a meeting with the headmaster. I imagine I’ll be seeing you soon, though, if that stack of books is any indication.” She smiled with her tongue between her teeth and stepped closer to him at the top of the stairs, retrieving her bag. He moved to make room for her and Martha, but he stayed only centimeters away from her. His eyes never leaving her person.

“Yes, I spend a fair amount of time in the library.” He nodded and finally looked down towards the stairs. The matron clenched her jaw but smiled politely as she started making her way downstairs, Mr. Smith following a few steps behind her with one final glance at Rose.

Martha continued to lead Rose down the hall to the headmaster’s office. Rose thanked her and knocked on the door. The headmaster was quick to answer.

“Hello, I’m Marion Prentiss, your new librarian.” Rose greeted with a confidence she didn’t truly feel.

“Ah, yes, I’m glad you were available on such short notice.” He gestured for her to step inside. “Martha, is it?” Martha nodded. “Could you wait here to show Miss Prentiss to her room and the library in a few minutes?”

“Yes, sir. I’d be happy to.”

Rose was grateful when her meeting with the headmaster was over, and Martha led her to her room. Bad Wolf had kept her promise, and she’d been able to answer his questions properly, but her nerves still had not yet settled from seeing someone else walking around in the Doctor’s body. She set her bag down in her room.

“Thank you for being my guide today Martha.” If she was the Martha currently travelling with the Doctor, then Rose should be trying to befriend her, even if she was still wondering if she had reason to be jealous. The thought struck Rose that she hadn’t really felt jealous in the last 54 years. She had no one to be jealous over, but the second she was back in her home universe, those juvenile feelings returned. She just hoped they didn't show through as much as when she met Sarah Jane.

“My pleasure, Miss.” Martha looked in her direction but didn’t meet her eyes.

“You can call me Marion if you’d like.”

Martha smiled genuinely this time. “I don’t think the rest of the staff would take too kindly to that, but when it’s just us, that would be nice.” They walked the rest of the way to the library. “Here we are. Sorry, it’s a bit of a mess. The last librarian wasn’t the most organized, but not having her here the last week made it much worse. I think you’ll have you work cut out for you.”

“Well, at least I won’t be bored, I suppose.” Rose shook her head staring out at the mess. She spotted a familiar head of hair bobbing around the bookshelves.

“Dinner is at 6:00. I’ll see you then, Marion.”

“Thank you, again, Martha.”

Martha left the room, happy to have been treated like a valuable person by someone other than Jenny. _How low have my standards become these past couple months? That man better take me to a spa or something after this. I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left comments or kudos!

Rose steeled her nerves and walked into the library. Mr. Smith was still bouncing between shelves.

“I intend to clean all the shelves, before reorganizing the books. You can just set them on the table.” He startled at her voice.

“Ah, Miss Prentiss, I just don’t want to make more work for you.”

“Thank you, and Marion is fine if you’d like.” It wouldn’t feel right to have his voice call her by the wrong name, but it was better than being wrong and formal.

“You can call me John.” He stepped closer to her, though she didn’t think he was aware he was doing so.

 _John Smith_ , Rose held back a laugh. _Should’ve known._

John looked down at his feet. “Have you had a chance to explore the town at all?”

“No, I just arrived this morning, so I was only really looking for the school.” Rose’s heart fluttered at the intent she hoped he had in asking her.

“If you’d like, I could show you around today? After classes are over?” He peeked up at her, trying to gauge her reaction.

Rose smiled brightly. This time she would not make him ask twice. “I would enjoy that. Thank you.”

“Good, it’s a date then.” His smile quickly turned into a deep blush. “I-I mean, uh.”

Rose laughed and put him out of his misery. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’ll meet you here, then? After work?” His smile melted her heart, even if he didn’t know why.

Suddenly, a chance to fall in love with him all over again didn’t seem so bad.

~.~

After several hours of pulling books off of the shelves and dusting every inch of the library, John walked in with a bounce in his step. It was nice to see that he had kept the Doctor’s boundless energy. Luckily, his energy was contagious because Rose was pretty exhausted, but that would not keep her from their “date.”

“Are you ready to go, Marion?” He started to reach out and offer his hand but hesitated. Rose reached out to take his hand anyway, allowing herself to take comfort in the idea that their hands fit perfectly no matter what memories he had.

“Ready,” Rose said with the tongue touched smile that spread to John’s face. He tightened his grip on her hand slightly, feeling a little more confident. Rose had to remind herself that this was 1913, and while it wasn’t inappropriate for a single man to escort a single woman through town, it was odd for them to display such closeness, especially after only two brief meetings.

As they exited the courtyard, Rose turned to look at John. “Tell me a little bit about yourself. I know you teach history, and you’re well read. What else do you do?”

“Well, the school keeps me pretty busy, but-” John hesitated, unsure if he should finish his thought. He liked Marion, and he wasn’t sure how she would feel about his fanciful dreams.

“Oh, don’t keep me in suspense. You can tell me.”

“I’ve been having these odd dreams, and I’ve been writing them down. They’re all a bit silly, really.” He brought the hand not holding Rose up to rub his neck.

“What are they about?” Rose nudged him with her shoulder, bringing them closer together.

“I dream that I’m not human. I have two hearts and a magic box that travels through time and space. I go around changing history and saving the day.” He shook his head. “Like I said, it’s just silly, but, but sometimes I think how magical life would be if stories like this were true.”

“I don’t think it’s silly. I think you teach about history at its best and worse. Of course there are things you would like to see for yourself and things you would like to change. It shows you have a good heart and a creative mind.” John stood a little taller at her praise. Rose wanted to tell him then that life really was that magical. _Their_ life was that magical, and that it was better with two. _Three now._ But she settled for, “You said you write all of these dreams down?” She tilted her head towards him, showing him the face that the Doctor could never say no to.

“Yes, would you, would you like to read through them sometime?” He gave her a soft smile.

“I’d love to.”

A bell rang in the distance. “I suppose that’s our cue to head back for dinner. We’ll be a bit late.”

They turned around, and John switched to Rose’s other hand, so he was walking by the road. They ended up only being last in line for dinner, but not late enough to annoy the cooks. The two shared a sly smile at their good fortune. Rose nearly rolled her eyes, remembering another time she went undercover with the Doctor and got stuck as a dinner lady.

The matron from earlier, Redfern, Rose remembered, waved to John. Inviting him to sit.

“Marion, er sorry, Miss Prentiss, you met Matron Redfern earlier with me.” John set down his meal and pulled a chair out for Rose before sitting down himself.

“Yes, briefly. How has your day been?” She felt an odd mix of guilty and jealous. She knew Matron Redfern had been growing close to John before she arrived, and Rose wasn’t happy about that, but she knew that she had gotten in the way, and it must have hurt to see John turn away from her so fast. Still, Matron Redfern hardly seemed like she would fit the Doctor’s life, and John wouldn’t be around forever.

“Oh, pretty well, thank you.” Matron Redfern replied stiffly. “Have you settled in nicely?”

“Yes, I made a lot more progress than I thought I would on cleaning up the library. The school has a rather nice collection, though it could do with a little more fiction.” Rose chuckled.

“Well, it is a school. The boys are here to learn, not daydream.” John tensed subtly at the Matron’s proclamation, probably thinking of his own fiction writing. The Matron seemed to realize John didn’t agree. “Perhaps that’s a little harsh. We do encourage the boys to think creatively, and I enjoy reading fiction myself, but their focus should be on reality.”

“That’s understandable.” Rose nodded, accepting her clarification, and John relaxed a little.

They passed the rest of dinner in pleasant small talk, both women trying their best not to appear jealous. Eventually, Rose excused herself to go to her room, and John offered to walk her. “It’s your first day, I want to make sure you remember your way back.” He had said. Rose waited until they were out of the faculty dining room and out of sight of Matron Redfern before taking his arm. Rose was almost disappointed when they reached her room, despite needing the rest. Though she no longer needed to sleep every night, the day had been emotionally taxing.

“Um, I was wondering, if it wouldn’t be too… forward. Would you- um- do you- do you like to dance?” Rose smiled, remembering a time when the Doctor had big ears and a leather jacket. Funny how much she had to reminisce on now. Being back in this universe with the Doctor, sort of, made her feel like she was 19 again.

John was moving his hand all over the place now. One would gesture wildly while the other tugged on his ear or rubbed his neck. “Because there is this dance thing tomorrow night. It’s nothing formal, but it- I suppose it could be fun, and it might be fun to go together if you have any interest in that kind of thing.”

Rose giggled and took mercy on him, grabbing each of his hands in hers. “I would love to go to the dance with you.”

“Good, great, um, I’ll let you get some rest now. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He began backing away from her door, not ready to lose sight of her, but eventually he had to turn the corner, and Rose closed the door.

John couldn’t believe his luck. Marion had actually said yes! _Wait,_ he thought, _do I even know how to dance? When was the last time?_ He found himself wandering around town. It wasn’t as nice walking alone, so he found himself wandering into the local pub, but he walked straight to the backdoor when he heard concerned voices. He found Matron Redfern, Martha, and a maid he thought was named Jenny, maybe Genevieve, looking at a meteorite. He explained to them what it was and offered to escort the women back to the school, but only the Matron accepted.

He found that maybe walking through town alone wasn’t the problem, maybe he just already missed Marion. _How ridiculous, she’s only been in my life less than 24 hours. Must just be tired._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left comments or kudos!
> 
> Sorry that my pacing is super weird in this story. I had several ideas for the conversation leading up to John opening the watch, but I haven't decided which I'm actually going to write, and I didn't really have any ideas for the rest of the story. In addition to that nonsense, I made a goal to write at least one 1,000+ word chapter per day like I used to. But that was my writing pace with mini trauma, and I'm a lot more messed up now. My focus is so much worse.

Rose managed to meditate for all of fifteen minutes that night, but her thoughts were running wild. She had taken to meditating when she realized she wasn’t sleeping very often anymore. There hadn’t been much else to do in Pete’s world after her family and friends went to sleep, and in 1913 she couldn’t even read on her phone. She supposed she could go get some more work done in the library, but she didn’t want anyone wondering how she got so much work done when she was supposed to be sleeping.

So, she decided to take a walk back to the TARDIS to look for a dress appropriate for a small-town dance and maybe some shoes that she could move a little easier in. She had a feeling the Doctor’s plan to hide from the “Family” would sour soon. They never could stay out of trouble, and the idea that he and Martha had lasted two months was already a miracle.

When she got to the TARDIS, she noticed that the video instructions the Doctor had left for Martha had changed to a different time.

“Martha? Are you here?” Rose called out. She went down the hall towards where the bedrooms and kitchen usually were. “Martha?” There was no answer. _She must have left already._

She went back over to the wardrobe room and looked through clothing from the 1910s. She found a nicer dress that a librarian could potentially own and grabbed the shortest heels she could find with a simple buckle. If she couldn’t run in these, she could kick them off and deal with soaking her feet when they got back to the TARDIS. _Maybe I could get the Doctor to give me a foot massage,_ Rose laughed.

With her new dress and shoes in hand, Rose made her way back to the school before anyone could know she was gone. She got ready for her day and went down to the library when it was still rather early in the morning and worked slowly. About an hour later she could hear the school wake up and students and teachers getting ready for breakfast. She followed the other faculty to the mess hall to eat, and on the way, she felt John appear beside her.

“Good morning!” He greeted cheerfully.

Rose returned his smile, “Good morning.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, what about you? Any more dreams of impossible things?” Without thinking Rose bumped her shoulder against his, and he bumped her back, just as she and the Doctor would. Rose missed the offended looks that their colleagues sent their way.

“Yes, and I brought you a little something.” He pulled out a nice, leatherbound journal and handed it to her.

“Is this your dream journal?” She opened it up and flipped through it, marveling at the descriptions and drawings of the creature they had encountered. “These drawings are amazing. So many fascinating adventures.” She noticed the stories from before she travelled with him and tried to decide if she should read them or ask the Doctor about them later. Then she flipped to a page where John had drawn her.

“Ah, she’s an interesting character. Rose, I call her, Rose. She looks a lot like you, but she- she seems to disappear later on.” Rose caught the sadness in his voice and wondered how long it had been for him since he last saw her. She turned the page, knowing she would be there to greet him when he turned back into the Doctor. “Ah, that’s the blue box! It’s always there. Like a, uh, a magic carpet. This fun little box that transports me to faraway places.”

“Sounds like an amazing ship.” Rose smiled tenderly. She could hear the TARDIS singing in her mind even from here and in her weakened state.

“Yeah, yeah she is,” his voice trailed off as they reached the dining area.

“Can I hold onto this for a little while? I’d love to look through it some more, but I’d hate to spill anything on it.”

“Yes, of course.” He smiled down at her, with wrinkled eyes.

Breakfast was over far too soon, and Rose was headed back to the library when she spotted Martha.

“Martha, are you alright? You look worried.” Rose said as she approached Martha.

“Oh, everything’s fine Miss, I mean Marion.” Martha didn’t meet her eyes.

“Martha, look at me, please.” She complied. “If you’re scared of something, you can tell me. I promise I’ll believe you, and I’ll help you.”

“It’ll be fine. I just-” Martha paused. “Have you seen an old pocket watch of Mister Smith’s? It was on the mantel, and I was going to polish it, but now I can’t find it anywhere.” Martha knew that it had a perception filter on it, so no one would really think anything of it if they saw it, but if that were true, why was it missing?

“I haven’t seen it, but I promise I’ll keep an eye out.” _Guess, I was right about the Family catching up soon._

Martha paused like she wanted to say something else, but she wasn’t sure if she should. “Please, don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe you should keep a little distance from Mister Smith for a few days.”

“I don’t plan to distance myself, but whatever the trouble is, I will help you. Both of you.”

Martha smiled sadly and walked away. Rose wished she could tell Martha that she knew about the Doctor, but since she knew so little about what they were facing, she didn’t know when or where she could safely talk to Martha. If there was such a time or place it certainly wouldn’t be in the middle of the hallway as the students were shuffling to their classes.

Rose went back to the library. A little after classes were over, one of the nicer students, Timothy, Rose thought his name was came into the library looking nervous. “Is everything alright? Have the other boys been getting to you?”

“It’s nothing Miss Prentiss. My mind is just a bit busy at the moment,” the young boy replied. Rose let him be alone with his thoughts but determined to keep an eye on him. As she walked behind a bookshelf, she saw Timothy pull watch out of his pocket. She couldn’t see the markings, but she knew it had to be the watch that Martha was looking for. She could feel the Doctor in her mind for a brief moment when he opened the watch.

Something told her to leave the watch with the boy. It would be safe with him for a while longer, and the child was clever; he wouldn’t get caught with it.

When Rose decided that it was time to take a break from the library, she thought it might be good to find Martha and try to hint to her that she knew about the Doctor. Those plans were dashed when she was met with a charming smile.

“Hello, Marion! I was just going to take a quick walk through town, and, well… um” John hesitated.

“Better with two?” Rose bit her lip slightly as she smiled up at him.

“Quite so. Would you like to come with me? Or maybe you want to rest after work. We’re already going to the dance this even-”

Rose interrupted his babbling. “I would love to go on a walk with you, John.” So John led her outside, and Rose hoped she’d be able to reach out to Martha later.

John didn’t really understand what was going on in his mind and body when he walked beside Marion. He knew his heart was beating much faster than it should have been, but it felt almost normal. His thoughts were clearer when he was with her, but it was somehow also harder to think of anything but her. How could she be affecting him like this when it was only the second day that he’d known her. He took comfort in the idea that she seemed to have no problem with him monopolizing her free time.

She was telling him a story about a couple of rowdy boys that had come into the library and made a mess, fully expecting her to just take care of it. He was impressed by how she handled the boys and held them accountable. She was so kind and caring whenever he saw her but hearing her act so feisty brought a smile to his face that he was sure was too goofy to be attractive in any way, but Marion blushed under his gaze anyway.

Marion’s grip on his hand tightened, “John!”

He turned to where she was staring and saw a piano that was about to fall and a mother unknowingly pushing a pram towards disaster. He looked around and took a ball from a child nearby and threw it, causing a chain reaction that stopped the mother in her tracks before she or the child were in the path of the falling piano.

“Well, that was lucky,” John said breathlessly.

“My hero,” Rose replied flirtatiously, smiling at him with her tongue between her teeth.

They continued walking, and John spotted a scarecrow halfway off its post, and John went to fix it.

“Ever the artist, John,” Rose smiled. As he adjusted the scarecrow’s arm, its head seemed to move unnaturally, but when it stilled without incident, Rose decided that it must have been her worry over not knowing what the Family was. “Where did you learn to draw? All those wonderful creatures and planets…”

“Gallifrey,” he answered distractedly, still maneuvering the scarecrow. Rose flinched at the name from the Doctor’s past.

“That must have been lovely,” Rose replied.

John stepped back from the scarecrow. “Well, my work is done. What do you think?”

“Marvelous job. Somewhere a farmer is very grateful we walked this way.”

They walked until it was nearing dusk, and Rose suggested that they head back to the school so she could change for the dance.

“But you already look perfect,” John smiled sweetly at her, and she smiled shyly.

“Then you’ll love the outfit I have planned even more. I’ll see you in half an hour,” with that, she walked into her room and closed the door behind her. John stayed staring at her door for a few more seconds before deciding that there was one more thing he needed to do before escorting her to the dance.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left comments or kudos.  
> I have miraculously finished writing these two episodes. I think I will probably keep the story going past them, but if I do, I will not be including the Master because I'm not a big fan of those episodes, and I'm not sure what I'd change. Let me know if you think I should go past Family of Blood.

Rose finished up styling her brunette wig, which she discovered was actually a bit easier than her real hair. She wasn’t sure what planet or time the wig came from, but she was impressed. Just in time, she heard a knock at the door, and she rushed to open it. There stood John, holding a single short stemmed tea rose. He handed it to her, and she accepted it with a smile, tucking it into her hair.

“You look beautiful,” John looked her up and down before coughing slightly, “Shall we?” He offered her his arm, and she took it.

“We shall.”

~.~

At this point Martha was panicking. Mister Smith had been gone most of the day, and she had searched through his bedroom and classroom, but the watch was nowhere to be found. John Smith wasn’t supposed to think anything of the watch because of the perception filter, so she doubted he moved it, but where else could it possibly have gone?

Not to mention Marion. Martha couldn’t figure her out. She came out of nowhere, and immediately got close to the Doctor’s human self. She spoke differently and treated Martha better than anyone else in Marion’s class. There was something off about her. Martha wondered briefly if Marion was part of the family and trying to get close to them both in order to hurt the Doctor, but she waved off the idea. The family had arrived after Marion, and it wasn’t that odd that the school got a new librarian. The old one recently got married and moved away. She was just jealous that John had taken a liking to her, but as soon as she found the watch, the Doctor would be back, and he and Martha would leave. _But what if he wants to take her with us? Would she come?_ Martha wondered. _Would he even still want me around after that?_ She shuddered a little at the thought. She knew that someday she wanted to go back and finish her degree, but she loved the Doctor, and she wasn’t ready to give him up.

She thought she had earned a little bit of a break, so when one of the other teachers didn’t want his tea and said she could have it, she was excited to be able to sit down with Jenny and have just a few minutes where she didn’t have to worry. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t work too well. Jenny was no longer Jenny, that much was obvious. What wasn’t so obvious was what to do about it without the fob watch. She ran to find him anyway, maybe she could jog his memory on her own.

So she ran, avoiding blasts from No-Longer-Jenny’s gun.

Martha ran to his room, but there was no sign of him. She decided to check Marion’s room and the library, coming up empty both times before she remembered that there was a dance in town tonight. Hopefully, she could still make it there before the family.

~.~

Rose should have been having the time of her life. It had always taken so much to get the Doctor to dance with her, and now John was the one asking her. He held her close as they danced, closer than many of the other couples. It felt so right to be in his arms, even if she wished it were really the Doctor holding her this way.

But she knew she needed to be on the lookout for any strange behavior. Trouble was in the air, and the Family was not going to let them finish their date. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified when she saw Timothy sneak into the dance hall. She supposed it would be good to have the watch nearby, but she didn’t want him to be in any danger. Maybe she should have taken the watch back from him earlier that day.

The song ended and, in a moment of courage, John leaned down to kiss Marion’s cheek. He could feel her cheeks tighten in a grin. He led her to a chair and pulled it out for her before announcing that he was going to get them drinks.

Martha rushed into the dance, and Rose knew that her time was up. She saw Timothy duck into the hallway, but somehow, she knew he wouldn’t go far. He had known enough to bring the fob watch to the dance after all.

Martha run up to Marion, “I’m really sorry for what I’m about to do.” Then she turned to the newly arrived Mister Smith. “They’ve found us. We’re in danger, and you’ve got to remember. You’ve got to change back!”

John sighed. “Marth, what _are_ you talking about?”

“This,” she gestured to John, “isn’t real. Those dreams you’ve been having those are your real memories, and you need to remember now. I’m sorry, but this isn’t your life and we’re in trouble. We need the Doctor.”

“Martha, those are just stories. You need to calm down.” John placed his hands on her shoulders condescendingly.

Martha shrugged him off. “You’re not listening to me! We need to get you back to the TARDIS.”

“Martha, I know it must be hard for you to understand, but what I dream about, the stories I wrote in that journal-”

“John, that’s enough.” Rose’s voice was calmer than she could have hoped. “There is no reason to talk down to her. She’s scared and trying to help.”

“Marion, you can’t believe that she’s right?” John chuckled. “She’ll be alright when she understands.”

“Where is Gallifrey?”

“What?”

“Earlier today, when I asked you where you learned to draw, you said ‘Gallifrey.’ I don’t know anywhere by that name on Earth.” Rose stroked his cheek. “But you did write about it in your journal. It’s the planet where you grew up. A red planet with two suns.” Martha stared at Rose in disbelief.

“Marion, what you’re implying-”

“There will be silence!” Mr. Clarke shouted as he, Baines, and Jenny stormed into the dance. Scarecrows like the one John had straightened earlier piled into the room as Clarke continued to call for silence.

“Never mind, too late. Forget we said anything. You are John Smith.” Martha spoke quickly and quietly. Rose took John’s hand and squeezed it. She could see the fear and confusion in his eyes, so she reached up to kiss his cheek.

A man stood to question the newcomers, but the creature in Mr. Clarke’s body obliterated him before he could finish his sentence. People began running out of the dance hall, while others stood, frozen in place by what they had just witnessed.

“We have a few questions for Mr. Smith,” Baines’ stare bore into them.

A little girl ran up to Baines. “Better than that. The teacher he’s the Doctor. I heard them talking.”

“You took human form,” Baines looked as amused as he could with the Family’s odd mannerisms.

“Of course, I’m human. I was born human, as were you Baines, and Jenny, and you Mister Clarke. What is going on? This is madness!” John exclaimed.

“Ooh, and a human brain too. Simple, thick, and dull.”

“He’s no good like this.” Jenny told Baines.

“We need a Time Lord.” Mr. Clarke added.

“Easily done,” Baines replied confidently. He stepped forward and aimed his weapon at Mr. Smith. “Change back.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” John replied desperately taking a few steps back and pulling Rose along with him.

“Martha, get everyone out of here.” Martha nodded to Rose and obeyed her wishes. The more people that got out of the way the better.

“CHANGE BACK,” Baines commanded again.

“I literally do not know!”

Not-Jenny reached out and grabbed Martha, holding her gun to her head. At least she had managed to get a few more on-lookers out of harm’s way.

“Get off me!” She shouted.

“She’s your friend, isn’t she?” Not-Jenny asked mockingly. “Doesn’t this scare you enough to change back?!”

“I don’t know what you mean,” John argued desperately and helplessly.

Rose released his hand and stepped between him and the family. He trued to grab her and pull her back. “This isn’t getting you anywhere. I don’t know who you are, but there is no Time Lord here.”

“There will be,” Baines answered, turning his gaze to her. In one swift motion, Baines reached out and grabbed her. She fought against his hold and stomped on his foot, but it only served to make him angrier as he pointed his gun towards her head instead of John’s. He passed her over to Mr. Clarke and aimed his weapon at John again. “Have you enjoyed it, Doctor? Being human? Has it taught you wonderful things? Made you better, richer, wiser? Well, then, Doctor, let’s see you answer this: which one do you want us to kill? Your friend or your lover?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your support everyone!

“Please,” John pleaded, and Rose’s heart ached at the desperation in his voice. “Please, let her go. Let them go. I don’t know how to do what you’re asking. I don’t understand.”

“Make your decision, Mister Smith,” Jenny demanded.

“Perhaps if the human heart breaks the Time Lord will emerge,” Baines suggested.

Timothy opened the watch then, giving both Martha and Rose the opportunity to break the holds of their distracted enemies, taking their guns in the process. John stared at Marion in shock. _How could she know how to break free from gun point?_

Martha also managed to take Jenny captive. She fired Jenny’s blaster at the ceiling while Mr. Clarke issued a warning to Baines. “Shoot you down?” Baines threatened.

Rose aimed the blaster she had taken from Mister Clarke at Baines. “Try it,” Martha challenged, her voice trembling slightly. “We’ll die together,” she promised.

“Would you really pull the trigger? Looks too scared.” Baines mocked her.

“Scared and holding a gun. ‘s a good combination. Do you want to risk it?”

“This won’t end well for you.” Rose warned, meeting Baines’ eyes. He lowered his weapon slowly. Rose backed up without lowering her weapon and yelled for the rest of the party goers to leave. When they didn’t respond, she lowered her weapon, trusting Martha to keep the Family in check and started herding people out the doors.

John finally started moving, helping Marion to get people out of the building. He spotted Timothy and yelled him to return to the school. “You’re as bad as them,” Timothy yelled back at him, leaving John unable to respond as he ran off.

Martha ordered John to leave as well, and he protested. “Mister Smith, I think you should escort your lady friend to safety, don’t you?” She never looked away from Baines as she spoke, coolly accepting her role.

“No,” Rose replied, even as John nodded and tried to pull her away. “We’re not leaving you to fend for yourself.”

Martha pushed Jenny back toward the rest of the family, and Rose took aim once more. As Martha slowly backed up towards them, she asked about Jenny’s fate, cringing at the unfeeling reply.

“Look out!” Rose yelled as a scarecrow reached out from the side. Martha quickly freed herself from its grip and the three of them ran outside.

“Don’t just stand there! Move!” Martha yelled as John paused to look back at the dance hall. She shoved him, and Rose grabbed his hand to pull him along. “God, you’re rubbish as a human. Come on!”

As John moved toward the familiar path to the school, Rose shouted at her to stop. “We can’t lead them back to the school. We will not put any more children in danger. They’ve already murdered two.”

“But they have plenty of weapons and defenses! You’ll be safe there,” John argued.

“Weapons manned by children. This is not their war!” Rose countered. “They will not die today. We’ll be fine on our own.” Rose pulled John down a path they had walked the previous day, where she had noticed a vacant home, and Martha followed. They could stop there to make their plan. Hopefully, Timothy would find them before the family did.

They reached the vacant home and quickly went inside. Martha began explaining to Marion and the Doctor the need to find the fob watch that had been on his mantel the day before. They needed the fob watch to turn John Smith back into the Doctor.

“Timothy has the watch, Martha,” she paused. “I believe he can hear the Doctor, and the Doctor will lead him hear in due time.” Martha stared at her not comprehending who this ordinary woman from 1913 could take all of this in stride.

“What are you two talking about?” John reached out to Marion’s chin turning her to look at him.

“Tell me about your childhood, John. What’s the first thing you remember?” Rose held his face in one hand, the other holding his.

“I grew up in Nottingham. Well, it lies on the River Leen, its southern boundary following the course of the River Trent which flows from Stoke to the Humber.”

“Tell me more.”

“I lived on Broadmoor Street. Adjacent to Hotley Terrace in the district of Radford Parade.”

“These are all just facts, John, things you could find on a map.” Rose stroked his cheek with her thumb as he looked down. “Where did you play?”

“Why does that matter? This is what matters.” He leaned closer to Rose and planted a chaste kiss on her lips. “This is me.” He kissed her again, and Rose returned it, while Martha tensed and looked away.

“Tell me about the sunrises where you grew up.”

John tried to blink away his tears. “The sky was a burnt orange, and when the second sun would reflect off the dome of the, of the…” His tears started to fall

“John,” Rose said weakly.

“But this Doctor sounds like some, some romantic lost prince. Would you rather that? Am I not enough?” He sat up but refused to meet her eye. Martha felt like she was intruding, but there was really no where else for her to go.

“No,” Rose answered strongly. “That is not it.”

“I love you, Marion.” There they were. The words she had waited 54 years to hear, but they were said to a fake version of her by a version of the Doctor with false memories. But she had made a promise of forever to a Time Lord, and that meant loving him even when he was different.

“I love you, too, John.” Rose tilted his chin, so he was looking at her again. “I will always love you.”

There was a knock at the door, and Martha and John flinched. Rose stood to answer it, but Martha stood between her and the door. “Relax, Martha, I don’t think scarecrows knock.” Martha moved out of her way, and Rose opened the door. Timothy Latimer stepped inside.

Timothy held out the watch to John, and John reached out to grab it with hesitation. Rose sat back down beside him and rested her hand on his knee. Finally, he took the watch and turned it over in his hand. He looked up to Timothy, “You've had this watch all this time? Why didn't you return it?”

“Because it was waiting. And because I was so scared of the Doctor.”

“Scared of him? Why?”

“Because I've seen him. He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun.” John flinched at the explanation, regretting ever asking. “He's ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time, and he can see the turn of the universe.”

“Stop it,” John said weakly.

“And he's wonderful.” Timothy finished.

A loud crash sounded, and Martha ran to the window. “They’ve started attacking the city.”

“Why?” John asked, desperately hoping for an answer other than the one he expected.

“To draw the Doctor out.” Rose whispered. She pulled John closer to her again, not letting him try to deny the comfort she was offering.

“Why did he speak to me?” Timothy spoke softly.

“Oh, low level telepathic field. You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing. Is that how he talks?” John turned his fearful gaze to Martha.

“Yes, that’s him. All you have to do is open the watch, and you’ll be the Doctor again. He’ll know what to do.” Martha looked at him nervously, eyes pleading with him to open the watch.

“You knew, you knew all this time.” John looked down. “And you were what, supposed to execute me?”

“John, that’s not fair.” Rose drew his gaze again.

“Isn’t it? I’ll be dead, and the Doctor will walk away with my memories.”

“You will always be a part of the Doctor.”

“We could give the family the watch. The Doctor’s all they want.” He searched Marion’s eyes for some hint of agreement or approval.

“We can’t give that kind of power to those murderers. You know that. They won’t stop killing until the Doctor stops them.” Rose’s voice was small.

“But we could have a life here, Marion.” John pleaded. Holding the watch in one hand and placing her hand over it.

The watch showed them the life they could lead. They could avoid the war with the foreknowledge they had. They saw a lovely Christian wedding, just missing family. They saw Marion carrying their first child, and then the two of them walking with two of their young children. They saw themselves age and lay on their deathbed, together. Rose heard the Wolf whisper in her ear. _I could change you back. You could have this life._

But Rose thought of every world in the sky, of the threat that erased the stars in every universe. If she took this offer, so many other people would lose their futures.

“We can’t, John. We need the Doctor to get out of this mess. He’ll know what to do.”

“He won’t love you like I do.”

Rose shook her head, “That doesn’t matter. I will love him like I love you. I will love you no matter what form you take or what memories you have. My love is not conditional, and it is forever.” John leaned into Rose for one more kiss. This kiss was longer and deeper than their previous kisses, but it was still over far too soon for either of their liking.

John sighed, squeezed Marion’s hand one last time, and opened the watch.

Everyone in the room stared in anticipation as John Smith faded into the Doctor. The Doctor looked back at Rose, and she finally saw the recognition she’d been looking for in his eyes.

“I-I-I-I I have a plan. It involves pretending to be John Smith for just a little while longer, and he wouldn’t bring you.” He looked at Rose, pleading for permission to go after them alone.

“I’ll come looking for you if you don’t come back in half an hour.”

“I’ll promise that if you promise not to disappear.” He still hadn’t released her hand, and Martha scowled, and her eyebrows furrowed at the closeness he still seemed to feel with Marion.

“I’ll see you soon,” Rose tightened her lips, not eager to let the Doctor out of her sight now that she had him back, but knowing he felt the same desperation to stay with her.

“Not if I see you first.” Rose laughed, feeling lighter than she had since John left for drinks at the dance.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who supports this story! This is the last chapter that I had planned, but not the last I have written.

The Doctor was confused, and he really didn’t want to leave the cottage. Not now of all times. Not when he could finally see her again. He tried to remind himself that she had been there for two days and hadn’t disappeared when he wasn’t there. She would be there when he got back.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask her, but his mind mainly focused on the three kisses he had shared with her as John Smith. It had taken his human self less than two days to fall in love with Rose all over again. He remembered what it felt like to have a relationship with her. To hear her say she loved him again and to have said it to her as well. How was he ever supposed to cope with being just friends again? And if he let the relationship continue, how was he supposed to cope when she eventually died? How could he ever hope to survive losing her when they had gotten even closer? _Losing her the first time was already more than I could bear._

The Doctor’s time for reflection came to an end when he reached the Family’s ship. He would deal with them quickly, and then he could focus everything he had on Rose like she deserved.

~.~

“You handled that surprisingly well, Marion.” Martha commented with more than a hint of suspicion in her voice, as Rose began to remove her wig. “You’ve met the Doctor before.”

Rose knew Martha wasn’t asking, but she answered anyway. “Yes, I travelled with him for a while.”

“Did he leave you in 1913? When are you from?” Martha looked horrified.

“I met him in 2005, and no, he didn’t leave me here. I came here looking for him.”

“Who are you? Really?”

“My name is Rose. Rose Tyler.” Martha’s mouth fell open. “My name means something to you? He talks about me?”

“He never shuts up about you. It’s always ‘I wish Rose were here’ or ‘Rose would know exactly what to say right now.’ At least that explains how you two got so close so fast.” Martha did her best to hide her jealousy. She knew how badly the Doctor missed Rose, and they were together first. “You were a couple already.”

Rose laughed. “Calling us a couple would imply the Doctor ever made a move or acknowledged when I did.”

“What?” Martha looked almost offended. “He said you were together.”

“Ooh, I’m going to slap him when he comes back.” Rose shook her head. “I’m half tempted to go back to the TARDIS rather than wait for him here. Give him a heart attack.” She wouldn’t. As much as she wanted to go home to the TARDIS, she didn’t want anything else to delay her reunion with the Doctor.

They heard the attack on the town stop, and Timothy excused himself.

Rose stood and started pacing. Soon enough the Doctor barged through the door. He went straight to Rose and wrapped her in a tight hug, lifting her a few centimeters off the ground. “You’re still here. You’re real.” He set her down and beamed at her.

“Have a little faith in me. I promised you forever. Don’t you remember?” Rose hesitated, wondering if now would be a good time to tell him that her forever would now match his. She decided that was a conversation that could happen at home.

“But how? The walls of the universes are closed. I’ve scanned for holes or weak points everywhere.”

“I’ll explain when it’s time.” Rose smiled weakly. “For now, we should probably get back to the TARDIS.”

“Are you upset with me?” The Doctor tilted her head up, and she saw the hurt in his eyes when he asked his next question. “Would you rather I still be John Smith?”

“No, Doctor. I’ve missed you, and I’m not letting you go again,” She ran her hand over the cheek she had threatened to slap not long ago. Her gaze hardened, “However, Martha deserves a thank you and an apology sooner rather than later. Why did you choose 1913 out of all the places you could have stranded her?” She whacked his arm.

“Ow,” he whined, rubbing the spot she hit. “It wasn’t really an active choice.” He looked over at Martha. “I am sorry for what I put you through, Martha. Thank you.” He smiled over at Martha. “You were brilliant!”

Martha smiled, glad to still be acknowledged even when he had Rose back. She had a feeling that she and Rose really could get along well if Martha could put aside her feelings for the Doctor.

“Back to the TARDIS, then?” Rose asked already walking towards the door. They walked to the TARDIS without conversing, no one really knowing what to say. The Doctor barely paid attention to where he was going, deeming watching Rose a more important use for his eyes. They walked with barely any space between them, and Martha smiled sadly. When they reached the TARDIS, the Doctor let go of Rose just long enough to send them into the Vortex, then he immediately reattached himself to her side.

“Well, I’m gonna go sleep in a nice bed.” Martha excused herself and went down the hallway.

“I’m gonna go wash 1913 off of me. I suggest you do the same.” She knew they would go back to that small town in the morning to say their goodbyes and explain their disappearance to the headmaster, but for now, she wanted to be dirt free. The Doctor’s grip on her hand tightened as she pulled away to walk toward her room. “I need to shower, Doctor.”

He walked with her down the hallway and into her room. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see that the TARDIS had redecorated it. The once vibrant pinks were now a dark, muted blue. It looked more like her apartment in the other universe than her childhood bedroom. She reached out with her free hand to stroke the doorframe. “Thank you, Old Girl.” The TARDIS hummed softly in reply.

Rose continued on her way to the bathroom, and the Doctor still didn’t let go of her. “Are you planning to shower with me, Doctor?” She teased, and the Doctor went completely red, but he almost looked like he was considering it. A moment later he shook his head and finally released her hand. “Meet you in the library in 20 minutes?”

“You’re not going straight to bed? You were in the library really early this morning.” His brows furrowed as he looked down at her.

“I have some things to tell you.”

“Then tell me.”

“Twenty minutes.”

“Fine, I’ll make some tea.” He turned away, but quickly turned back to face her. Before he could lose his nerve, he kissed her cheek. “I missed you.” He turned back towards the door and left her room. She stared at the door for a moment before placing a hand over the spot he had kissed. Then she rushed through her shower, threw on some cozy pajamas, and practically ran to the library.

The Doctor was already there waiting for her, freshly showered with two cups of tea. He was sitting in his usual chair. Rose grabbed both of his hands and pulled him up.

“What are you doing?” He asked as he allowed her him move him. She pushed him back down on the couch and sat down next to him, curling into his side. He hummed in satisfaction and wrapped his arm around her.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, just enjoying being back in one another’s arms.

“How long has it been for you?” Rose finally broke the silence. “Since you last saw me?”

The Doctor sighed. “About eight months. How long for you?”

“Promise you’ll let me explain and not just immediately start scanning me?” The Doctor sat up and turned so he could look into her eyes.

“Rose?” he said worriedly.

She sighed heavily. “It’s been 54 years. Bad Wolf made some changes to my biology. Mum did say that I wasn’t fully human travelling with you.” She chuckled but saw the fear in his eyes, searching through all the terrible things this could mean for her. “I’m ok. I promise. But…” she paused, looking up at him hopefully, “it does mean that I can give you a real forever. You won’t have to watch me-”

The Doctor leaned in to kiss her, stopping her assurances. He could finish running through worst case scenarios and scan her to make sure she was really ok later. He had caused her to stop aging and probably watch all of her family die, and here she was promising him forever all over again. How could he not kiss her?

“Rose Tyler, I love you.” He said, briefly pulling away from their kisses. When he returned to her lips, he could feel his smile.

He was rather surprised to hear her voice in his head, _I love you, My Doctor._ Maybe Bad Wolf had made a few other changes. But he could worry about that later too.

For once in his life, he was not going to run.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your support!

Rose was beginning to believe she and the Doctor would never leave the library again. The Doctor was noticing that despite having been awake for at least 24 hours at this point, Rose wasn’t even yawning.

“Rose, what time did you wake up this morning?”

“Ask what you want to ask.” She tilted her head back to look at him before laying her head back onto his chest between his hearts.

“Why aren’t you tired?” He rubbed her arm, needing to touch her as much as he could, still not really believing that she was here to stay.

“I don’t sleep very much. I don’t get sick. If I drink, I only get drunk if I’m aiming to. I hear the TARDIS more clearly than I used to. Bad Wolf said that she was preparing me to use her power again. That something was coming.” She dug herself deeper into his side. Bad Wolf had told her that it would be another year at least before they had to deal with the stars going out. She wanted to just have this time with him, get to know each other again, and get to know Martha.

“What’s coming?” He tightened his arms around her and turned her so that her legs were over his and she was practically sitting on his lap.

“I don’t know any details, and we’re not supposed to worry about it yet. There’s still time. But whatever it is, effects all universes. Not just this one. Not just Pete’s.”

The Doctor moved to get up. “I should start scanning for anomalies, and we should get you to med bay. We need to know everything that changed, and make sure that you’re really ok.”

“Doctor stop! Bad Wolf will tell us when we need to know more. Please, just stay with me a little longer.” The Doctor sat back down on the couch, and they resumed their former position. He kissed the top of her head. “And I really am ok. I know you’re still gonna want to scan me, but it can wait a while.” She reached up and pulled his head down to her and kissed him.

She didn’t think that she would ever get over that fact that she could kiss him now. That he was kissing her back. She had waited so long to come back to him that doubts about how his final sentence on Bad Wolf Bay would have ended had slithered into her mind, but she didn’t have to worry anymore. He had accepted her new promise of forever, and nothing could separate them again.

“Will you read to me, Doctor?” Rose asked several minutes later. She stood up to grab a book.

“I’d love to, My Rose.” He bit his lip; he hadn’t meant to say that last part. Book in hand, she turned back to him with a tongue-in-tooth grin.

“Say it again.”

“Rose.”

“No, please say it again.” She was in his lap again, looking up at him.

“My Rose.” He whispered softly, leaning his forehead up against hers.

“My Doctor.” She kissed him again, then passed him the book that she had grabbed.

He began reading the familiar words of Harry Potter. They stayed on the couch, curled up together until eventually, the Doctor’s voice grew tired, and he realized he hadn’t had anything to drink in a few hours.

 _I’ll just go get us both some more tea,_ he thought, sliding out from under Rose.

“No, you got the last batch. I’ll get us some more tea.” Rose stood up.

“Rose,” he grabbed her hand. His surprised tone confused her. “Why did you say that?”

“You made the last batch of tea. I can make this one.” Her eyebrows furrowed, as she turned back to face him.

“But, how did you know I was going to make more tea?”

“Because you said you were going to go make us tea.” Rose said slowly, unsure of where he was going with this.

“No, I thought about making us tea. It’s not just hearing the TARDIS more, is it? You can hear me too, and I think I heard your thoughts earlier. Though, I wasn’t trying to read your thoughts. I think you projected.” The Doctor ran his spare hand through his hair making it stick up. “I didn’t notice it earlier because I changed back into a time lord, and you were already there, but I can feel you in my head.”

“What does that mean, Doctor?” Rose stepped closer to him and took his other hand.

“I think, Bad Wolf didn’t just strengthen your bond with the TARDIS. I think she made you fully telepathic.” He paused. “Or maybe a touch telepath like me, though we weren’t- Never mind, like you said, all this can wait.”

“I’m sorry.” Rose hung her head.

“What?”

“I sorry I read your thoughts. Even if I didn’t mean to, that’s an invasion of privacy, and I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. Rose, after we met that Dalek in Van Statten’s museum, I told you it felt like there were no other time lords. I was alone in my mind, but I’m not anymore. I can feel you.” He pulled Rose in for a hug. “I can teach you to control your telepathy if you want, but I like being able to feel you. It’s been… lonely.”

“I’ll never leave you alone.” Her voice was muffled against his chest, but he heard it anyway, and his hearts skipped a beat. “I love you, My Doctor.”

“I love you, my Rose. Now let’s go get that tea.”

They walked hand-in-hand to the kitchen and made their tea. By the time they were done with their drinks, it was nearly time for breakfast. Martha would be up soon.

So, they started cooking and when it was nearly ready, Rose kissed the Doctor’s cheek and went to fetch Martha. The TARDIS led her to her room, and Rose knocked on the door.

“Coming!” Martha opened the door, looking ready for the day ahead, but Rose looked past her into her room.

“You’re packing?” Rose questioned, confused for only a moment before she understood. “If you’re expecting to be dropped off because I’m here, you can unpack after breakfast. If you want to leave because I make you uncomfortable, please give me a chance. At least a thank you trip for the months spent scrubbing floors and being talked down to.”

“He doesn’t need me anymore. He’d rather your company.” Martha’s voice was small and sad.

“He’ll have my company, but trust me, he needs all the friends he can get.” Rose chuckled. “When I first met him, he was closed off. Barely let me in, but eventually he got kind of used to being a family again. He even spent a Christmas with my family with only one complaint to save his pride. Even when he says he doesn’t need anyone; he likes having a lot of people around. That’s why he invites people along in the first place.”

Martha looked down. “Do you-” She stopped and shook her head.

“Do I know that you want him to look at you differently? That you love him?”

Martha looked back up in surprise. “And you’re still ok with me being here?”

Rose smiled. “It’s hard not to love him, all the amazing things he does. I was jealous at first when I saw that he was travelling with someone new, but he and I talked last night, kind of. I know where he and I stand now. We are a couple. If that makes you too uncomfortable, then I understand wanting to leave, but there are so many more amazing places and people to see. I don’t want you to miss out because of me. I think, based on the small amount of time I’ve spent with you already, we could be friends.”

“I would like that.” Martha smiled a small, bittersweet smile.

The Doctor came down the hall. “What’s taking you two so long? Breakfast is ready.” He arrived at Martha’s door. “You’re packing. Why are you packing? Are you leaving already?”

Rose looked to Martha, hopefully. “No, just reorganizing.” Rose smiled and nodded at her.

The Doctor left out a sigh. “Good, good. Breakfast!” He shouted then began dragging Rose back to the galley, looking to Martha to make sure she came along.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone!

When they were all gathered at the breakfast table, the Doctor spoke up. “Any requests for where we should go today?”

Martha looked up at him and winced before grabbing her neck.

“Maybe a spa day. Somewhere relaxing. I think Martha could use a nice massage.” Rose passed a judgmental look to the Doctor, and he realized he was not yet done hearing about his time as John Smith.

“That sounds lovely.” Martha sighed.

“Alright, I know a good place.”

They finished their breakfast rather quickly and quietly. The Doctor kept glancing over at Rose, like if he took his eyes off of her, she would burst into flames or disappear.

“Well, I need to go change out of these pajamas. See you in the console room in 15?” Rose stood from her chair and started towards the door. The Doctor stood to follow, but Rose waved him off. She tried to project her thoughts, pictured them travelling from her mind to his. _Talk to Martha._

The Doctor nodded and sat back down across from Martha.

“I really am sorry for what I put you through these past couple months. Thank you for, well, everything, staying with me, helping us get away from the family while I was useless…” The Doctor trailed off. “I’m also sorry that I focused so much on Rose that I didn’t check if you were ok last night.” He looked down sheepishly.

“It’s alright Doctor. I know you missed her, and I’m glad you have her back.” The Doctor smiled at her, unaware as always of Martha’s true feelings.

Martha held back the words she wanted to say. She still wanted the Doctor to look at her the way he had looked at Rose all morning. Wanted to tell him that it hurt to watch them, but she knew that she didn’t have a chance with him, and she knew that Rose was great. It might just take some time for her to be ok with it, but she’d keep that to herself. Martha agreed with Rose’s earlier assessment that they could be friends, and she’d already stuck up for Martha when the Doctor was oblivious a couple times.

They slowly made their way to the console room, and a few minutes later, Rose joined them.

“Ok, a little unfinished business in 1913, then off to Somnus 5, the best spa in the universe!” The Doctor began circling the TARDIS.

Martha watched as Rose hit a few buttons while the Doctor wasn’t looking. Martha would be lying if she said she trusted the Doctor’s piloting skills, but she was pretty sure Rose was human and probably knew less about piloting than the Doctor, but she kept quiet. She could be annoyed later if they landed in the wrong place.

Much to Martha’s surprise, they landed smoother than usual, in the right time, and not too far from the school. Timothy met them on the hill where they landed. They talked with the young boy for a little while, and the Doctor left him with the now empty fob watch. Timothy informed them that they had been reported dead in the attack on the village, so the school would not expect to see them on Monday morning. They said their goodbyes and piled back into the TARDIS. They made one more impromptu trip to see Timothy as an old man, leaving again with a salute.

Finally, Rose and Martha looked at the Doctor. “Alright, alright. I know. Somnus 5.” The Doctor started up his mad dash around the console again, but this time he saw Rose mess with a few controls. He looked over at her with concern in his eyes, “Rose, do you know what you’re doing?

“Holding onto the console?” She stared at him like he’d grown an extra head. He continued running around.

“You’re hitting controls. You really haven’t noticed?” They landed and the Doctor went straight to Rose’s side, sonic at the ready.

Rose put her hand on the center pillar and closed her eyes. _What’s going on, Old Girl,_ she asked, hoping the TARDIS would be more forthcoming with answer than Bad Wolf.

She heard the TARDIS hum peacefully in her mind.

“Everything is ok, Doctor. The TARDIS just wanted a little help. I guess she was just being subtle about it.” She ran her hand over his cheek.

“It used to bother you when she got in your head without asking. Why are so calm about her controlling your actions?”

“It freaks me out that I didn’t notice,” the TARDIS hummed an amused apology, and Rose smiled “but I did rip open her heart a while back, so we’re kind of past any privacy issues.” The TARDIS’s singing sounded very similar to a real laugh. Martha looked horrified, and Rose laughed along, but she quickly turned serious when she saw the concern still riddling the Doctor’s face. “What’s it going to take for you to believe that I’m ok and here to stay?”

“Spend some time in med bay with me tonight?” He looked at her hopefully.

“Alright, but for now, let’s go enjoy some spa time.” She walked towards the doors and the other two followed. Martha eyed her a little warily.

“You ripped open the heart of the TARDIS? I didn’t even know it had a heart.” Martha whispered as she walked alongside Rose.

“Yeah, the Doctor didn’t tell you that she’s alive? She’s more plant than machine.”

“He did, but still… given how often he goes on about repairs, I thought him referring to her as a she was just like a bloke about a car or ship. And why did you rip open her heart?” Martha had never been as confused by a person in her life, and she was travelling through time and space with a bloody alien. _How is the other human more confusing?_

Rose lost herself in the memory a little as the Doctor went to check them in. “I needed her help to save him after he sent me away. I ended up killing him myself, though he doesn’t see it that way. I wouldn’t recommend looking into her heart, but I don’t regret it either.”

Martha still had plenty of questions about Rose and the TARDIS, but she decided to leave it for now. The Doctor returned with their passes and a few menus describing different treatments and activities.

“We came on their slowest day, so you shouldn’t have to wait for anything. The ‘stone artimal’ massage is their most popular massage. I drew an X through any treatment that is hazardous to humans, so avoid those.” The Doctor pointed to a few of the crossed-out treatments.

Martha looked stunned and a tad nervous. “Good to know… Stone artimal it is.”

The Doctor pointed her to a hallway on the right. “It’s just down that way. There’s a map on the back on the menu. We’ll meet up for lunch in the cafeteria around noon?”

“Sounds good to me.” Martha waved goodbye and wandered off.

“Oh, look at you, trusting companions to wander off on their own.”

“I’d say this is one of the safest places in the universe but that would jinx us, wouldn’t it?” Rose nodded and smiled with her tongue between her teeth. The Doctor leaned down to pull her into a kiss.

“And what would you recommend we do, Doctor?” still holding him close when they eventually pulled apart. She still needed to breathe more than him.

“I- I don’t.” He paused and took a breath. “I don’t know if it’s too soon to ask this. We didn’t talk much about where our relationship is at or-” Rose cut him off with a kiss.

She took his face in her hands, preventing him from looking away from her, not that he really wanted to. “We’ve said I love you. We’ve acted like a couple for years without admitting it. While I would like us to have a real talk about where we are in our relationship, I think for now you can know that whatever you want to ask, won’t scare me off.”

“There’s a couple’s hot stone massage that’s supposed to be really good for telepaths.” With one hand he rubbed the back of his neck still feeling awkward, while the other hand reached for one of hers.

“That sounds lovely.” She grasped his offered hand and they headed towards their massage. “Though I don’t really know how to use telepathy.”

“I’ll guide you through it if you’re ok with me being in your head.”

Rose smiled and bumped against his side. “I think we’re a little past privacy issues too, Doctor.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments and kudos!

Rose was certain that she had never felt so relaxed in her life. The Doctor had been right to suggest that massage. He had helped her through the telepathic parts, and she felt like she understood him a bit more. Now that he had retreated from her mind after being so close to her, her mind felt lonely. She couldn’t imagine how lonely he must have felt having his entire species disappear from his mind.

They walked toward the cafeteria to meet up with Martha for lunch. She tried to nudge him telepathically and felt like she succeeded when he smiled at her and kissed the top of her head.

“Having fun, My Rose?”

“Yes, My Doctor.” She stopped walking for a pace, and he turned to look at her. When she started walking again, he stepped in front of her.

“What is it?” She reached up to rub away the crease in his brow.

“Is it strange that I miss you?” She looked down at her feet, feeling a little ridiculous.

“Rose, I’m right he- Oh, you mean,” he touched her temple, and she looked up at him. _In here_ , he finished telepathically.

 _Yeah, I’m just being silly._ She laughed wryly.

 _It’s not silly, and, uh, well, there is something. Never mind maybe that idea should wait for tonight,_ he pulled his hand away from her temple, feeling lonely himself as he pulled away.

“I’m gonna hold you to that. You’ve got me curious.” They resumed walking and looked around the cafeteria for Martha. She had saved them a table near several of the most human looking restaurants.

“With the idea of some massages being hazardous to humans, I figured I had better wait and make sure I don’t eat poison.” Martha laughed.

The Doctor looked at her blankly. “There’s nothing dangerous in the cafeteria.”

“How would she know that, Doctor?” Rose slapped his arm lightly. “How do you feel, Martha?”

“By far the best massage I’ve had in my life. Definitely could have used that early on in med school.”

“Med school? You’re a normal doctor?” Rose really should have asked a bit more about Martha’s life outside of the Doctor, but if she was being fair to herself, most of the time she had spent with Martha had been in hiding.

“Well, almost. I will be after I finish my exams.” Martha laughed. “I got a bit distracted.” She gestured at the Doctor.

After they got their food, Rose asked a bit more about Martha, and Martha told a few stories of her travels with the Doctor. Rose winced and squeezed the Doctor’s hand when Martha talked about finding Daleks in New York City and Dalek Caan’s survival. There was plenty of trouble in her other stories, but most of them were a bit more lighthearted than that.

They were still talking when they finished their food and decided to soak in the hot pools. The girls left the Doctor alone to step into the changing room. When they came back out in their swimwear, the Doctor was already waiting for them. He blushed as Rose saw him staring and turned in a circle. Martha rolled her eyes but laughed at her friends’ antics.

“Her mother slapped me upon meeting me too, and I managed to get her home on time.” The Doctor grumbled as Martha told Rose about her family.

“There’s a story I haven’t heard.” Martha grinned. “Why’d she slap him?”

Rose laughed and stepped into the hot pool, closely followed by the other two. “So, I was 19 when I started travelling with him, and I didn’t tell my mum that I left. He said it was a time machine, so I thought that I would be back before she knew I was gone. Only my boyfriend at the time knew where I had gone.”

“Mickey the Idiot.” The doctor grumbled under his breath. Rose rolled her eyes, and Martha looked at them quizzically.

“But, I did _not_ make it back before my mother noticed. He told me that I had been gone for about 12 hours, so I walked into my mum’s flat like nothing had happened, saying I just spent the night at a friend’s place. She freaked out, saying that she thought I was dead.”

“How long had it been for her?” Martha winced in anticipation.

“A year! A whole year! And Mickey couldn’t exactly explain to the cops that I had vanished into thin air with the alien who blew up my job, and he was the last person to see me, so he had been a suspect in my murder investigation.”

Martha’s eye grew wide. “That’s terrible! No wonder she slapped him.”

“That wasn’t why.” The Doctor mumbled.

“What?” Martha froze. “What do you mean ‘that wasn’t why?’ What more could you have done?”

“Well, all of that contributed. But a policeman came over to get statements and close the murder case because clearly, I hadn’t been murdered, but they were asking a bunch of questions about where I’d been, why I hadn’t reached out, and all that. And I couldn’t answer, they wouldn’t have believed me anyways. I just kept saying I’d been travelling, but mum was terrified that I couldn’t tell her what had happened to me or where I’d been, and the Doctor didn’t look like this back then. The age difference was much more visible.” Martha’s eyebrows furrowed, but she didn’t speak up, still too worried about Rose’s mum’s final straw. “Then, the Doctor spoke up. Wanna tell her what you said?”

“No, not really.” Rose continued to stare at him. “I said ‘it’s my fault. I sort of hired her as my companion.” 

“No, you didn’t!” Rose just nodded at Martha’s horror. “Please tell me that’s when he got slapped. Please tell me it didn’t get worse than that.”

“The cop asking if companion meant a sexual relationship didn’t help matters.” The Doctor folded his arms, and Martha laughed at seeing the 900-year-old alien pout like a child. Rose pulled him into her arms, and he relaxed.

“Doctor, I assure you, him giving us the chance to deny that, probably helped. Mum was already thinking it.” Rose laughed. “She learned to like him eventually.” Rose ran her fingers through the Doctor’s hair, then moved away from him slightly, remembering that this was new to Martha. She knew she and the Doctor were very tactile before deciding to be in an official relationship, but she would do her best to be kind to Martha, especially right now when the wound was fresh.

“The missile hurt my case too.”

“I wasn’t gonna mention it, but yeah, it bothered her.” Rose laughed at Martha’s reaction.

“Do I want to know?” She asked cautiously.

“Do you remember when a spaceship crashed into Big Ben, and then Downing Street blew up?” The Doctor sighed.

“Yes.”

“We launched the missile, despite being in the building, along with Harriet Jones.” Rose kept the story brief; they could go into more detail, if necessary, later. For now, they could just soak in the hot mineral water and talk about happier things.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your support!

They finally left the spa when Martha’s eyes began to droop. After saying goodnight to their friend, the Doctor guided Rose into the med bay. She sighed and hopped up onto the bed and sat as still as she could while the Doctor ran every scan he could think of, even drawing a bit of her blood to run tests on. They were both a little shocked when the needle prick healed almost instantly, but that only caused the Doctor to think of a few more tests to run. Just when Rose thought she couldn’t take anymore, the Doctor grabbed her hand.

“Ok, that’s all. Now we just have to wait for the results to come back.” He pulled Rose into a hug. “Thank you for humoring me.” He paused tilting her head up so he could look into her eyes. “And thank you for coming home.”

“Thank you for still being my home.” She lifted herself up on her tiptoes until her lips met his. She settled back into his arms for another minute before asking if they could go to the media room. As they sat down and wrapped themselves up in a fuzzy blanket, she asked, “Are you going to tell me about that idea you had that you said we should talk about tonight?”

“Ah, yes, that. Maybe we should have the other conversation first.” The Doctor ran his hand through his hair making it stick up.

“Are you pushing off that conversation or does establishing our relationship effect your willingness to share your idea?” Rose raised an eyebrow at him.

“The second one…”

“Ok, we’ve had feelings for each other a lot long er than we’ve admitted. We’ve gone on a lot of unofficial dates, lived together. You’ve met my family.” The Doctor winced.

“Rose, do you want to talk about them?” he looked at her lovingly and gently ran his thumb down her cheek.

“Not tonight. I’d rather focus on us for a while longer.” He kissed her hairline in agreement. “We’ve done most couple-y things without officially being a couple. I’ve promised you forever, and I mean it.”

“I love you, My Rose.” Her smile lit up her eyes.

“I love you too, My Doctor.” They shared a quick kiss and rested their heads against each other’s forehead. “I think it would be appropriate for us to say we’re in a serious committed relationship.” The spoke the last three words slowly, watching the Doctor’s reaction, still too used to him pulling away when things got serious or domestic.

But he didn’t pull away. Instead, he pulled her hand to his lips. “Would you call it a long relationship?”

“I think people would believe us if we said we’d been dating for 1-3 years.”

“Do we have an anniversary?” Rose laughed at his question.

“For this human, it’s hard enough to keep track of my birthday on a time machine, so if we set an anniversary, it’s gonna be on you to remind me.” She held took his hand in hers. “But it was March 4th that you took my hand and told me to run. That’s a good enough anniversary for me.”

The Doctor couldn’t stop himself from kissing her. How could he with a proclamation like that. “March 4th is fantastic.”

“Is that established enough for you to tell me your telepathy idea?” Rose didn’t know what she was expecting, but she didn’t expect the Doctor to blush.

“This is not me officially asking you. If this is something you want, then I want to do this right.”

“Okay,” Rose spoke slowly, unsure of where this was going.

“Time Lords do this thing, well, it was antiquated and looked down on even when I was a kid, but it was the closest they came to romantic.” Rose smiled at his rambling. He’d satisfy her curiosity eventually. “They would, well, it was originally used to help couples stay together through regeneration, which isn’t really a problem for us. We’ve already cleared that hurdle.” Rose tugged on his ear lightly and he laughed, kissing her forehead. She rested her head in the crook of his neck. “What I mean to say is, that time lords are capable of sort of merging their minds with their, with their, well we called them bondmates, but the human equivalent would be spouse. The binding is permanent, and it doesn’t allow for much, well any privacy, but it would- It would mean being inside each other’s mind constantly. Your thoughts would always be your own, but we could always be in each other’s mind. We would be bound to each other.” Rose smiled against his neck, inhaling his scent as she sighed.

“That sounds lovely, but I do think I need to get a little more used to telepathy before I’m ready for that. Is that ok?” She met his eyes.

“Yes, yes, of course. I really should explain it better at some point too, but is that something you would consider doing someday? Marrying me telepathically?” He rubbed his neck with his free hand, the other refusing to release its grasp on Rose’s hand.

“Yes, forever.”

“Forever.” The Doctor leaned in for a kiss. For all his worries, the coming events Bad Wolf refused to elaborate on, Rose having lost her family, the test results he was still waiting for, and all the other uncertainties of the future, he knew at least this part of his future would be bright.

“For now, could you, well, could I feel you in my mind again?” Rose asked timidly, not completely sure what she was asking for.

The Doctor placed his hand on her temple and pictured himself in the entry way of her mind. Without him having to instruct her, she met him there. She closed her eyes contentedly and beaconed him closer. He wrapped her mental self in a hug and leaned down to kiss her. _Anytime, my love. If you want me, I’ll be here._

Her concentration broke, and their mental selves crumbled. They were back in the media room.

“Well, should we watch a movie?” The Doctor suggested.

“Yeah, you pick.”

The Doctor separated himself from Rose just long enough to set up _The Princess Bride_ then laid down on the couch behind Rose, pulling her down to lay against him. He wrapped his arm around her, leaving one hand under her head, partially to support her and partially to keep a light telepathic connection with her.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for commenting and leaving kudos!

“Sorry, ladies, I think the beaches of Ralito are going to have to wait.” The Doctor scrunched his face at the monitor, and Rose ran to his side.

“There’s a time anomaly in Wester Drumlin,” told Martha.

The Doctor looked at her quizzically, “Were you reading the monitor or my mind?”

“A little of both, maybe?” Martha furrowed her brow at her answer, and the Doctor wished her test results would come back faster.

 _She’s telepathic too?_ Martha thought, hopefully to herself, _always more questions than answers._

“Any more information than ‘anomaly?’” Rose smiled at the Doctor as he threw the dematerialization lever.

“Nope!” He shouted as they fell away from the console.

They landed in the unkempt garden of an abandoned house.

“Well, this is already creepy.” Martha pointed to a statue of a crying angel. “Why do people even carve those?”

“They don’t! Don’t look away from it, and don’t touch it.” The Doctor cautioned urgently, retrieving his sonic from his pocket. “It’s only a statue when you’re looking at it.”

Martha and Rose backed up to where the Doctor’s voice had come from, still staring at the garden statue-that-wasn’t-a-statue. Rose heard Martha scream but noticed too late that both the Doctor and Martha had disappeared. She felt a tap on her shoulder from behind, followed by a splitting headache and the feeling of cold brick against her back.

The next touch on her shoulder made her flinch before she recognized it as the Doctor’s hand. “Guess, we found the anomaly, huh?”

“That’s one way of putting it. What happened?” Martha asked, rubbing her head.

“There was another weeping angel. They’re made of stone when you’re looking at them, but when you look away, they are faster than you can imagine. Luckily for us, they feed off time energy. Unluckily for us that means they sent us back in time without the TARDIS.” The Doctor helped Rose and Martha to their feet and the three of them leaned against the wall. “Time travel without a TARDIS never a pleasant experience.”

“Ok, so what do we do now?” Rose asked. “I can just barely sense the TARDIS. Not enough to do anything.”

The Doctor strained to sense the TARDIS, but she was out of his reach. The tried to push away what that meant for Rose. She, Bad Wolf, and the TARDIS had insisted she was fine, and there was nothing he could do right now anyway.

“For now, we figure out when and where we are. Get some money, food, and shelter.” It didn’t take them very long to find a newspaper telling them they were in 1969. “1969… 1969… Trapped in 1969. Why does that sound familiar?” He ran his fingers through his hair, and the two women chuckled at his porcupine look.

“If we’re going to be stuck here for a little while, we should probably try to look sane.” Rose combed her fingers through his hair, and he leaned into her touch. He sighed when she deemed his hair good enough and pulled her hand away.

“Oh, that’s it! That woman on that street that one time!” He dug through his bigger-on-the-inside pockets frantically. “Martha, you remember, that woman.”

Martha stared at him like he’d grown another head. “No idea.”

“She gave me a folder. I know it’s in here somewhere… Aha!” He pulled out a blue folder. “She said when I got stuck in 1969, I needed to have this with me, then I forgot about it. Lucky, I stashed it in my trusty pockets.” 

“Well, let’s find a café or something,” Rose suggested, and they started walking down the alley.

They found a table to sit and started digging through the information Sally Sparrow gave them. “Yeah, we’re gonna be here for a few months.” The Doctor grumbled. He wanted to just call UNIT and have them flag down another version of him to take them all back to the TARDIS, but that would cause a paradox, and it wouldn’t solve the weeping angle problem like the plan in the folder. _And it would mean sharing Rose with another version of himself, and the version UNIT would call wouldn’t be much help anyway…_ The Doctor shook his head and caught Rose laughing at him.

“You’re thinking very loudly. And why are you being jealous of yourself?” She looked around the café. “Psychic paper, please.” She held her hand out to him. He reached into his pocket and gave it to her along with a confused look. “I don’t exactly have work history in this time and someone needs to get a job if we’re gonna be here a while.” He nodded, and she walked up to the cashier.

“I probably ought to follow her lead.” Martha got up and walked toward Rose, leaving the Doctor to figure out how to build a timey-wimey detector.

It ended up being much easier than Martha expected for her and Rose to get jobs at the department store down the road. The cashier had been polite in telling them they had no openings, but that Henrik’s was always hiring. Martha could tell during their interview that Rose was trying not to laugh, but she wasn’t really sure why until they got back to the Doctor, who was still waiting for them in the café.

“How did job hunting go?” He stood up and met them at the door. “Do you need a break, or shall we go flat hunting?”

“We can go look. I’d like to settle in somewhere sooner rather than later.” The three trapped time travelers started down the street. “We got jobs at Henrik’s. Try not to blow it up this time.”

The Doctor smiled at her and laughed. “I will try not to blow up your job. Yet. Just don’t mess around with the shop window dummies.”

“You know, I kinda thought you were exaggerating when you said he blew up your job. Why did he blow up your job?” Martha looked between her two friends.

“Do you remember everything plastic coming to life and attacking people for a few minutes?” Martha nodded in response to Martha’s question. “Well, a few days before that, the Doctor found a transmitter at Hendrik’s and blew up the building to destroy it. Bit too big an explosion in my opinion,” the Doctor winced at the truth in her assessment. He hadn’t been in a good place before meeting her. “but if I’d still had a job, I might not have found him again.” The Doctor grabbed her hand and swung it between them.

They made it to the apartment complex that had advertised openings in the newspaper they had bought earlier and met with the landlord.

“Ah, you must be the people Billy Shipton called about yesterday. Your deposit has already been paid. You’re just holding the apartment for a few months until Mr. Shipton arrives, correct?”

“Yes, yes, that’s correct.” The Doctor made a mental note to remember to call when they got back to the TARDIS. He might call Henrik’s too just to be safe.

The landlord showed them to their temporary home, and they all collapsed on the couches.

“Um, one problem,” Martha said after a few minutes of exhausted silence. “There’s only one bed.”

“Oh, that’s alright, you take it.” Rose waved her hand toward the small bedroom. “The Doctor and I barely sleep. The couch will be good enough.” She saw that Martha didn’t look convinced. “Really, we’re ok.” The Doctor nodded along with her, and Martha sighed.

“If you’re sure.” Rose nodded again.

“Go get some sleep. We start work early tomorrow morning.”

Martha waved them goodnight, and Rose and the Doctor left the flat to go grocery shopping with the little bit of money the Doctor fished out of his pockets. It was going to be a long few months.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm glad people have stuck with me this far.

After several days, the Doctor had managed to find almost all the pieces he needed to build his timey-wimey detector, but he needed to buy the last. Unfortunately, that meant waiting for Rose and Martha’s first paychecks, as they had spent what little money they had on food.

Martha and Rose had been able to get similar schedules at Henrick’s, so they walked to and from work together. In that time, they talked. Martha told Rose more about her family; mom, dad, dad’s girlfriend, older sister, and baby brother. She had plenty of dramatic stories to tell as they walked and worked, and Rose told Martha more about her travels with the Doctor.

Rose quickly became aware that she and Martha had led very different lives. Rose remembered her first time working at Henrick’s, but she was fairly certain that Martha had never worked retail before. She reminded Martha frequently that there was an end in sight.

There had been one customer in particular that had gotten Martha riled up. He had talked down to her and been particularly racist. Asking if there were any shirts in his size that she hadn’t touched because e wanted clean clothing from the store. Rose had gotten between them and done her best to get him out of the store quickly. Another one of their coworkers tried to soothe Martha when she left the customers’ sight, but another laughed in agreement with the man. Rose glared at the woman after the rude customer left. Unfortunately glaring was all Rose could do since she and Martha needed to keep their jobs just a while longer.

“It’s not as bad as 1913, I guess, but seriously.” Martha complained.

“I’m really sorry, Martha. I know people can be terrible, but if you want, you can yell at Eleanor the day before we leave.” She said hoping to lighten Martha’s mood without playing down her struggles.

Martha laughed bitterly. “As amusing as that would be, I don’t think it would help things any.”

“Right you are.” Rose gave her a small proud smile and bumped her shoulder with her own as they reached the door to their flat.

“Welcome back, ladies!” The Doctor shouted as they entered the flat. He pulled Rose in for a quick kiss and gestured around the small living room. It was covered in the parts he had been collecting. “I’m so close. Well, so close to finishing the timey-wimey detector. I’ll start on the video camera later.”

“1969 has video cameras.” Rose pointed out.

“But they weren’t a consumer product yet. It’ll be cheaper for me to make one.” The Doctor waved her off. We’ll want to leave Billy Shipton with as much as we can, and we’ll need to go back and pay the deposit on the apartment. Having two salaries is helpful, but we still need to get through this as cheaply as possible.” Rose and Martha nodded.

“Well, today was payday. Let’s get this finished up and make sure we don’t miss Billy.” Martha suggested.

They sent the Doctor out to run his errand, while Martha rested her back and feet, and Rose started on dinner. The Doctor came back just a few minutes before dinner was ready and helped Martha set the table.

When they sat down to eat, Martha asked a question that had been eating at her. “What about your family, Rose? Where are they?”

“Um, Martha-” The Doctor started while looking at Rose with concern, but she waved him off.

“It’s alright, Doctor. I’m ready to talk about them.” She smiled bittersweetly at them. “My dad died when I was just a baby, but I did get to know him a bit,” she gestured at the Doctor. “My mum raised me herself, but the other universe that we got stuck in was one where my dad was still alive. He and mum got remarried. It took him and I a little time to get used to each other, but he was still my dad. I got a baby brother named Tony. He was the cutest little handful. Honestly, we should have realized that I wasn’t sleeping much anymore when he was a newborn. I stayed with mum and dad to help out for a while, and I stayed up with him a lot.” She smiled genuinely this time. “He has two kids of his own now, and one granddaughter.”

“Sorry, your baby brother has a grandkid? How old are you?” Martha looked at her curiously.

“Hard to know exactly on a time machine, but I’m 74, maybe 75.” Rose laughed a little at Martha’s disbelieving expression.

“I thought you were human. He never expressly said, but he clearly has a fondness for Earth.” Martha sighed. _If she’s not human, I guess her being more confusing than the other alien makes more sense._

“I am human. Both my parents are human, but when I looked into the heart of the TARDIS, my life got even weirder than time travel.” Rose smiled. “I technically could have come back to this universe just a few years after I got trapped, but something called Bad Wolf, told me to wait. I stayed close enough for my parents to know I was living well. I was with them both when they passed, and I had the comfort that when they died, I could come back here and still have family.” The Doctor squeezed her hand as she sped through the sadder parts of the story.

“What about Rickey, then? Did he not stay in touch?” Rose rolled her eyes at her boyfriend’s refusal to call Mickey by name.

“ _Mickey_ came back to this universe almost as soon as he could. His grandmother had passed away peacefully, so there wasn’t anything holding him in that universe, and he said he could help with whatever is coming and keep me linked to Earth when I came back here. We’ll see him again.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes, but his smile betrayed his true feelings. He may tease Mickey, and he might have been jealous of him in the past, but he did like him, and he was glad that Rose hadn’t lost everyone she knew in order to be here with him.

“Mickey the Idiot is our backup? We’re doomed.” The Doctor joked, only to have his arm lightly slapped by Rose.

Martha wasn’t really sure what was going on or how she should react to Rose’s story, but they were laughing, so she smiled along.

 _Would I have been willing to wait that long for the Doctor? Lose my family?_ Martha asked herself. _No._

Martha finally realized the difference between her and Rose and their feelings for the Doctor. Martha loved the Doctor, but not like that. He was important to her, yes, but he wasn’t _the_ most important person in her life. She could find someone else eventually, but Rose and the Doctor were everything to each other. There would never be someone else for either of them. Martha could only hope to find a love like that. Suddenly, she was itching for her normal life again.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support!

The three of them kept busy during their stay in 1969. While Rose and Martha were at Henrick’s, the Doctor had plenty of time to build a video camera and encode the recording with an emergency program that would send the TARDIS back to them.

After work, they found a pub that they liked and went to trivia night every Friday. They made a few friends but mostly kept to themselves. There were a few times when brave men would try to flirt with Rose. Rose would laugh at the Doctor’s jealousy and remind him “I’ve done the impossible to get back to you. I think you can be confident I won’t leave with a drunk.” Martha had some fun when men came up to her though, never paying them any mind because there was no way she was staying in 1969, but scoring their drunken pickup lines was fun.

On the rare occasion that Rose had time off that Martha didn’t, they would go on cheesy, touristy dates.

When Martha eventually needed to sleep, the Doctor taught Rose more about telepathy, and how to build telepathic shields. She got more and more comfortable with another presence in her mind, and the Doctor started making plans for how to ask her about bonding officially.

After they had been trapped in 1969 for nearly three months, the timey-wimey detector finally picked up Billy Shipton’s signature. They found Billy in the same alley where they had landed a couple month’s prior, leaned up against the brick wall.

“Welcome.” The Doctor greeted, approaching the man slowly.

“Where am I?”

“1969.” Rose answered simply, sitting down next to him.

“Not bad, as it goes. You've got the moon landing to look forward to.” He Doctor supplied.

“Oh, the moon landing's brilliant. We went four times, back when we had transport.” Rose laughed lightly at Martha’s enthusiasm. She understood the struggles 1969 would present to Billy more than Rose and the Doctor, but even after the past few months, she was able to give him some hope.

“Working on it.” The Doctor responded.

“How did I get here?” Billy rubbed his head and started to get up.

“The same way we did. The touch of an angel. Same one, probably, since you ended up in the same year. No, no. No, no, no, don't get up. Time travel without a capsule. Nasty. Catch your breath. Don't go swimming for half an hour.” Billy sputtered at the Doctor’s explanation. “Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present, they consume the energy of all the days you might have had. All your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy.”

Billy continued to stare and the Doctor in confusion. “What in God’s name are you talking about?”

Martha rolled her eyes, “Trust me. Just nod when he stops for breath.”

Rose smiled kindly at Billy. “You were sent back in time by a creature that looks like a statue. It’ll be a bit of an adjustment, but I promise that everything will turn out ok.” She patted his shoulder.

“Tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at thirty paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow.” The Doctor rambled on.

“I still don’t get it. Where am I?”

“London, 1969.” Martha repeated.

“Normally, I'd offer you a lift home, but somebody nicked my motor, so I need you to take a message to Sally Sparrow. And I'm sorry, Billy. I am very, very sorry. It's going to take you a while.” The Doctor looked down at him apologetically. “Let’s get you back to the flat. How’s your head doing?”

They brough Billy back to what would be his flat. Martha immediately started moving her things out of the bedroom, so he could get settled as Rose and the Doctor explained the situation more fully and what they needed him to do. Martha was grateful to hear genuine excitement in his voice as they discussed his needed career change. She joined them in the living room. Overall, he seemed to accept his new reality with relative ease.

“This flat is in your name, and the deposit has been paid. When the TARDIS, that’s our ship, comes here, we will leave you with everything we can. We’ve already made a few calls to help you get a publishing job here in London.” Rose explained.

“How long will you be here with me?” Billy asked, looking between the three of them.

“Could be a few hours, maybe a few days.” The Doctor answered.

“Would you be willing to make it a few days?” Billy did not meet their eyes. “I’m not ready to face this alone.”

Martha smiled at him and looked to Rose and the Doctor for agreement. “Of course, we will.”

Rose nudged the Doctor, and he spoke. “It’s the least we can do.”

“For now, let’s get you to bed.” Rose stood up and grabbed both of his hands, pulling him off the couch.

“Is that an invitation, pretty lady?” Billy smiled at her playfully.

Rose laughed, “Sorry, Billy, I’m taken.” She tilted her head at the Doctor, who sighed.

“He’s as bad as Jack.” He rubbed his hand over his eye but laughed along with Rose and Billy.

“Who’s Jack?” Martha asked.

“An old friend that used to travel with the Doctor and I, but he left to save the world on his own.” Rose was too focused on Martha to notice the Doctor wince at her explanation.

~.~

The TARDIS arrived early the next morning, and the Doctor went to tie up some loose ends, calling the landlord and Henrik’s, along with a few publishing companies in the area making their past few months in 1969 as smooth as he could.

They kept their promise and stayed with Billy for another week, helping him get settled and make new friends. They took him to a bar one night, where he took a particular liking to a woman named Sally. They decided that was the night to say their goodbyes. Billy wished them well with a strong smile.

“Thank you, Billy. We couldn’t have gotten home without you. I know you’ll have a wonderful life.” The Doctor shook his hand and leaned up against the TARDIS doors.

“You’ll be fantastic. Thank you, again.” Rose rubbed his arm and went to lean against the Doctor’s side. He wrapped his arm around her.

“Good luck, Billy. I’ll miss you.” Martha kissed his check.

“Thank you all, for helping me start a new life. Go see the universe.” He waved as they walked into the TARDIS and closed the doors.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am cutting out Utopia because I don’t really want to write the Master/Missy. Those really aren’t my favorite arcs, sorry.

“The emergency program drained a lot of power.” The Doctor sighed, staring at the monitor. “We’ll have to go refuel.” He threw the dematerialization lever and he and Rose flew the TARDIS.

“Where are we?” Martha asked. “Where in the universe can you refuel a time machine?”

Rose gestured to the doors with a smirk, and Martha took a look outside.

“Cardiff?” She stared back at them in disbelief.

“Ah, but the thing about Cardiff, it's built on a rift in time and space, just like California and the San Andreas Fault, but the rift bleeds energy. Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel.” The Doctor tried to explain.

“Wait a minute. They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Was that you?” Martha narrowed her eyes at them accusingly.

“Kind of” Rose smiled shyly.

“Bit of trouble with the Slitheen.” The Doctor moved very suddenly to start moving the ship, but Rose stopped his arm.

“She’s not done fueling. Why are you in such a hurry to leave?” Rose heard a knock at the door, and the Doctor winced, grabbing his head in pain. “Are you alright?” The door opened and there stood Jack. “Jack!” Rose ran to him. “How are you here?”

“Rosie, you’re alive!” He scooped Rose up in his arms, and Martha raised an eyebrow. “I saw your name on the list of the dead after Canary Wharf.” He set Rose down but kept her close.

“Sorry ‘bout that. I got trapped in a parallel world for a while, but I made my way back.” Rose smiled at him “But, you, how did you end up in the 21st century? The Doctor said you stayed to help rebuild the Earth.” She looked between Jack and the Doctor, the later trying to hide his face.

“I suppose I should be glad you told her a noble lie, instead of saying I ran off or something.” Jack glared at the Doctor.

“Doctor…” Rose called with a threatening tone, and the Doctor stopped trying to hide. He walked over to them. “Why did you leave him?”

“Do you know what happened to me? Last thing I remember, back when I was mortal, I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination. And then I came back to life. Why am I not dead?”

Martha watched her friends and the newcomer with growing concern, but nothing prepared her for the horror she saw on Rose’s face when she heard Jack’s last comment. Martha could have sworn she saw gold swirl in the other girl’s eyes.

“What did I do?” Rose whispered.

“Rose?” Jack turned his attention back to her.

“I bring life.” She whispered quietly. “What did I do?” She started backing away from Jack, then looked up at him. “I’m so sorry.”

“Rose, you have nothing to be sorry for.” Jack tried to comfort her, but she pulled away.

“I think I do.” She looked to the Doctor. “Don’t you dare lie to me again. What did I do to him?”

The Doctor sighed heavily. “When you absorbed the time vortex, it was more than you could control. If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god. A vengeful god. But you’re human. Everything you did was so human.” The Doctor ran his thumb against her cheek, trying to smooth the worry lines on her face. He turned to offer the last piece of information to Jack, “She brought you back to life, but she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever.”

Jack nodded, stoically. Rose’s eyes glowed slightly, and her voice changed, causing both men pulled away slightly in surprise before reaching back out to her. “No, not forever. We cannot fix you, but it will not be forever.” Her eyes stopped glowing, and she put a hand to her head wincing in pain. She groaned. The Doctor started scanning her with the sonic.

Rose waved him off. “If her doing that hasn’t killed me yet, it won’t kill me now.”

“She’s done that before?” The Doctor asked, still scanning.

“Usually, she only comes out when I’m asleep, but she did something similar to show mum what our life would be when I came back.” She waved him off again, turning her attention to Martha. “Sorry, Martha, Jack. Jack, Martha.”

Jack gave her one more look of concern, before putting on a flirty mask and turning towards Martha. He held out his hand to her. “Captain Jack Harkness.” She gave him her hand, and he kissed it, causing her to blush.

“Oh, don’t start.” The Doctor rolled his eyes.

“I was only saying hello.”

“I don’t mind.” Martha smiled.

“Shall we go get lunch or something?” Rose suggested, looking at Jack guiltily.

“Ooh, are you asking me on a date, Rosie?” Jack turned towards her, suggestively.

Rose reached into the Doctor’s pocket and grabbed his psychic paper. She handed it to Jack, and he opened it to read. ‘I’m taken.’

He smirked and handed it back reading: ‘I don’t mind.’

“Alright you. Let’s go.” The Doctor grumbled, leading the way to the door.

Rose laughed and took his hand, with one more sad look at Jack. Jack and Martha followed them out and into a nearby restaurant.

When they were finally seated, Jack spoke. “Ok, I get what happened to me. That’s fine, but why did you leave me behind?” Rose squirmed a little in her seat, and Jack reached across the table to grab her hand. “I’m ok, Rosie. I don’t blame you. I’ve done a lot of good with my life.”

“Do you want to die, Jack?” Rose asked, knowing she wasn’t ready for any answer he could give.

“Sometimes.” Jack answered honestly. “But I did get to see you again, and that’s worth it.” Rose smiled sadly but accepted his answer. She didn’t want to keep pushing; she wasn’t the one who needed and deserved comfort right now. Jack needed answers, and he deserved to hear them. She looked at the Doctor expectantly.

“It's not easy even just looking at you, Jack, because you're wrong.” The Doctor leaned against the side of the booth.

“Thanks.” Jack replied flatly.

Martha laid her face in her palm with her elbow on the table, and Rose retreated further into herself.

“You are. I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my guts. You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen.” The Doctor shook his head.

“So, what you're saying is that you're, er, prejudiced?”

The Doctor tilted his head to the side. “I’ve never thought about it like that.”

“Shame on you.” Jack laughed lightly. He was still hurt, but what’s done was done, and he loved his team at Torchwood. His life may be too long, but it was still good. He wouldn’t let a long life turn into a lonely one like the Doctor. “Still, you could have given me one last ride to a better time. I was just lucky I had my vortex manipulator on me, but when I tried to make it to the 21st century to find you, I missed. Arrived in 1869, this thing burnt out, so it was useless.”

“Rose was unconscious, and I was beginning to regenerate. Trying to deal with my time sense’s reaction to you would have been too much. I’m sorry.”

Jack nodded. The Doctor would always choose Rose’s welfare, and so would Jack.

“At least you kept her safe.” Martha looked at Jack with understanding until Jack got a mischievous look on his face and stood up. “I do have a perfect idea for a punishment for leaving me though.” All three of them looked at him in confusion. He grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “Hi, Rosie.”

Rose laughed and shook her head when she realized what Jack was planning, but she didn’t stop him. He twirled her around, dipped her, and kissed her. It was just a quick, playful peck, but still more than enough to frustrate her boyfriend.

Martha gave up on trying to understand them.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for supporting the story!
> 
> Sorry, scientists. I am not one of you, so forgive the random science talk that probably won’t make sense. Hopefully, it’s not too bad, but there is only so much research I will do to write a fanfiction.

The four of them managed to finish their lunch in peace, mostly. They told stories, and Jack flirted with everyone. Rose flinched when Jack admitted to working for Torchwood, but when she really thought about it, there was no one she’d rather have running Torchwood. He really did spend

“I swear to you, it’s different. It’s changed. There’s only half a dozen of us now.” Jack held out his hands in a placating gesture, as the Doctor scowled.

“Everything Torchwood did and you're part of it!” The Doctor stood over Jack, but Rose tugged him back down.

“Let him talk, Doctor.” Rose stated with a calm she didn’t really feel. “You know you can trust him.”

“But everything Torchwood did, Rose.” The Doctor looked at her sadly. “They took you away from me.”

“And another version of Torchwood helped me get back to you.” She rubbed his cheek. “If Jack’s in charge, I’m confident it’s more like my dad’s Torchwood than Hartman’s.”

The Doctor sighed and turned back to Jack.

“The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it. And when I did that, I did it for you, in your honor.” He laughed a little. “Including rewriting the charter. What did you do to Queen Victoria?”

“We were a little too amused” Rose nudged the Doctor causing him to scoff, “about fighting the werewolf that was after her. She knighted us before banishing us though, so that was fun.”

Martha blinked rapidly at the casual way Rose told that story, but at this point, with all she’d seen, she didn’t know why she was surprised. _I guess there’re just some things you never fully get used to._

One thing she was very used to was screaming. All four of them stood, nearly in unison, and ran outside to find the source of the scream.

They saw a woman laying on the ground staring down the street. Most people were ignoring her though a few had come over to help. Martha immediately ran over to her and knelt by her side, looking her over for any injuries. She had a nasty cut on one arm, and Martha ran back to the TARDIS for a first aid kit. Rose took the spot Martha had just vacated and offered the woman some comfort while the Doctor started questioning her about what had happened.

“It just came at me.” The woman stared blankly.

“What did?” The Doctor pressed, sonic-ing her wound.

“It’s alright. You can tell us. We’ll get you all taken care of.” Rose spoke in a soothing tone.

“It looked human, but it… It changed. It’s skin rippled, and its hands grew claws. I don’t understand. I don’t understand what that thing was.” The woman was shaking when Martha returned with a medical bag slung over her shoulder. Rose moved out of her way, and Martha started treating the wound.

The Doctor read the results of the sonic scan and clenched his jaw. “Skin rippled, and claws.” He whispered to himself before turning back to the woman. “I’m sorry, what’s your name?”

“Ellie.”

“Well, Ellie, everything is going to be ok? Can you tell me a bit about what happened before the creature attacked you?” The Doctor watched Jack walk away out of the corner of his eye.

She winced as Martha finished cleaning and bandaging the cut. She gave Ellie some instructions to take care of the wound.

Jack came back with a cup of tea, with some retcon, but he wasn’t going to tell them that. “Here, this should help.” He handed her the cup, and she started sipping it down.

“Thank you.”

Jack smiled his signature grin at her. “Anytime.” She blushed.

“Stop it.” The Doctor rolled his eyes.

“I’m just being polite.”

“I don’t mind.” Ellie grinned, and Rose laughed, glad to see Ellie regaining some color in her cheeks.

“We have to go now. We’re going to figure out what’s wrong with him.” The Doctor gestured in the direction the alien had run.

Ellie nodded, and the Doctor, Rose, and Jack started to leave. Martha checked Ellie over one more time, asking if she was really ok to be on her own before following after them.

“So, Doc, do you know what we’re dealing with?” Jack questioned as they jogged down the street.

“Maybe. I think so. One of two possibilities.” The Doctor replied noncommittally. “Could be good or really, really bad.”

“I have a guess.” Martha grumbled finally catching up to the group.

The Doctor held up his sonic, scanning the streets around them. “We know it’s a clawed multiform capable of taking human shape, and when it changes, its skin moves in ripple pattern. There were abnormal traces of neon, iron, and zinc in the cut, so I should be able to track-” He looked up. “Aha, there!” He pointed at a man, probably in his early thirties, across the street. The man noticed them looking and bolted.

“You couldn’t have been a bit more discreet?” Jack glared at the Doctor as the four of them began running after the alien. Jack split off from the group in an attempt to cut off the alien’s exit.

They managed to corner the man, who fell to his knees. “Please, do not hurt me. I just want to live in peace.”

“Ah, see Martha, it’s not always the dangerous one! He’s a morphilon, not a zygomorph.”

Rose knelt beside the alien. “What’s your name?”

“It is not easy for humans to pronounce. I have called myself Hank on this planet.”

“What happened back there, Hank? Why were you so freaked out?” Rose asked.

“Because there are zygomorphs hunting me. I thought this shape was unassuming enough. I did not think anyone would bother with me. I thought she was one of them. I promise!”

“‘It’s not always the dangerous one’ he said. Everyone heard him jinx us, right?” Martha mocked. Jack and Rose laughed while the Doctor pouted.

“Let’s go track down some zygomorphs, then.” Rose stood. “Why are they after you?”

“We are from sister planets, but always at war. I sought to escape the war, but the zygomorphs want us all dead. They do not seek victory, but extermination.”

“Do you know how many there are?” The Doctor asked.

“Just three.” He took a few deep breaths. “Their ship is hidden only a few streets away. I can take you there.” He stood.

“Do you have a plan to deal with them?” Martha asked the Doctor.

“Uh, no. Not yet. I’ll figure it out as we go.” He rubbed the back of his neck, timidly.

Jack sighed. “I have some alien grade tranqs at the base.”

“That’ll work.” The Doctor grumbled, still unready to accept anything good from this universe’s Torchwood. They followed Jack back to Torchwood and collected the tranquilizers. Jack introduced them to his team very briefly, silently asking them all not to ask questions. He trusted his team, but they didn’t need to know everything about him.

“I am sorry to ask, and I am very grateful for your help, but how will tranquilizers prevent the zygomorphs from coming after me again?”

“Hank’s got a point. I can Retcon them. Wipe their memories from today. How long have they been chasing you?”

“They have been chasing me for a few weeks, but I have only been on Earth for a few hours. Erasing a day should be enough if they are not on Earth when they wake.” Hank smiled for the first time since they met him.

“We can get them off Earth before then, can’t we Doctor?” Rose smirked, and he smiled giddily at her, glad for a peaceful plan against a warrior species on the prowl.

“Hank, after you show us to their ship, come back here. My team will help set up a life for you here.”

Hank’s eyes filled with orange-red tears. “Thank you. You have been far kinder already than I could ever have expected.”

~.~

Things didn’t go _exactly_ according to plan. They approached the ship cautiously, but the zygomorphs were nowhere in sight, not that any of them knew exactly what to look for since they were dealing with shapeshifters. But with a little bit of sonic scanning, they were able to find and neutralize two of them. Unfortunately, the third saw her friends’ fates, and put of more of a fight, cutting a large gash in Rose’s side, before Jack managed to hit her with a tranquilizer.

The Doctor, Martha, and Jack ran to Rose’s side as she slid down the wall, grasping her side with a pained look.

“Move! Let me get to her.” Martha shoved the men out of her way and gently removed Rose’s hand from her side.

“I’ll be fine.” Rose assured them all.

Martha opened the medical kit she was still carrying and started to clean the wound. “It’s closing as I clean it. How’re you doing that?” She looked up at Rose.

“My biology is a bit inhuman.” Rose chuckled. “I did say that I’d be fine.”

“Should have those test results by now.” The Doctor said, more for his own benefit than anyone else’s.

“Heart of the TARDIS. You said things got weird with you when you opened up the heart of the TARDIS.” Martha thought aloud.

Rose nodded.

“Are you part TARDIS? I’ve seen it get hit with all sorts of things, and it never stays damaged for long.” The other three stared at Martha in confused amazement.

“Well, I’ll still need to look at the test results. Nothing like that has ever happened before, but she does the impossible too often to rule it out.” The Doctor’s head flooded with the potential consequences of that idea. It really shouldn’t be possible, but it also wasn’t possible for a human to absorb the time vortex and live.

Rose’s wound was healed enough for her to stand, albeit painfully. “We should get those three off the planet sooner rather than later.” She changed the topic. She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know what she was now; afraid the Doctor might pull away in guilt or confusion. They had gotten to close for her to go through that again.

They said their goodbyes to Jack and Hank and loaded the three zygomorphs into their ship. They went back to the TARDIS and rematerialized around the other alien ship, dropping it off in another galaxy.

Martha stayed very quiet during the whole trip, just thinking to herself.

“Martha!” Rose called, and Martha startled. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, sorry. Just a bit in my own head.” She waved off Rose’s concern.

“Is there anywhere you’d like to go? Beaches? Forests? Rocky? Past? Future?” The Doctor started listing names of planets at a high speed.

“London? June 6th, 2008?”

“What?” The Doctor’s face fell.

“Today reminded me a bit of why I started studying medicine in the first place. I think it’s time that I go back and finish what I started.” Her voice was filled with confidence, but she still looked to Rose for support.

“Can I see your phone?” Martha handed it to her, and Rose put her number in Martha’s contact list. “Call us if you need us or want a vacation.”

“I definitely will.” Martha smiled and the two women went to pack up Martha’s things while the Doctor flew the TARDIS, landing the morning after Lazarus’s attempt to reverse aging.

Rose pulled Martha into a hug. “I’m gonna miss you

“I’ll miss you too.”

The Doctor walked over and wrapped his arms around them. “Thank you, Martha Jones, for all you’ve done.”

Martha smiled at them. “I’ll see you again.”

They waved goodbye to her as she walked confidently out of the TARDIS and into her apartment.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support! It's been really nice to get back into writing. In the last 15 days I have written over 31,000 words of this story (up to chapter 22).

Rose knew the Doctor was uncomfortable with the promise to visit Martha again, but she also knew he wouldn’t deny Martha. When people left him, he tried to look at it a little like Schrodinger’s cat. As long as he wasn’t around when they died, he could always visit them while they were still alive, though he never did, just in case. Rose, however, was not going to let him get away with that. She promised her mother that she would try to keep connections on Earth, always afraid that Rose would lose her humanity. She intended to keep that promise. The TARDIS is her home, but so is the Earth.

“I’m gonna go to med bay and see if your results are back yet.” The Doctor tried to hide the sadness and nervousness in his voice, but Rose knew him too well. “Do you want to come?”

Rose nodded and moved to follow him, but the sound of a foghorn interrupted them. The Doctor was about to move to the monitor but didn’t make it there before the bow of a ship crashed through the side of the TARDIS.

“What?” The Doctor exclaimed, before noticing Rose. She was curled in a ball on the TARDIS grating and gasping in pain. “Rose! Did it hit you? Are you alright?” He hit a few buttons on the console, and the TARDIS walls started reforming.

“I’m alright.” She answered weaky as he appeared at her side, looking her over. “I think I’m feeling her pain. What happened? How did…” She picked up a lifebuoy, reading the ship’s name, “the Titanic hit us? Tell me this is something weirder than us being an iceberg.”

“It’s something weirder than us being an iceberg.” He still looked at her in concern, though she was no longer curled up and breathing was easier.

“Well, shall we go see how much weirder?” Rose stood with a tongue-in-tooth grin.

“We shall.” He piloted the TARDIS onto the ship and moved to escort her to the door.

“Wait,” she grabbed his arm. “The Titanic’s fancy, isn’t it? Shouldn’t we change?”

“Alright, try to not take too long.” He sighed.

She clung to his arm, tilted her head, and smiled. “This is our first trip alone since I got back. Won’t you dress up for me?”

“Oh, alright.” He shook his head dramatically. They walked together to the wardrobe room. Rose found a beautiful, mostly form fitting, low cut, navy blue dress that shimmered when she moved. She found some matching flats that she could run in and pulled her hair into a nice bun.

She met the Doctor in the console room and enjoyed watching her jaw drop as he checked her out.

“You look beautiful.” He took her arm to escort her onto the ship.

“For a human?”

“Once. I said that once, and you were beautiful without the qualifier.”

“Thank you, My Doctor.”

“I love you, My Rose.” She leaned into him, and he kissed her forehead.

“I love you too _._ ” He smiled at her as they walked out of the storage closet they landed in.

“This is beautiful.” She looked around at reception hall, everything looked fairly normal until they walked past an angel sculpture, and it moved. “Though, I think I’ve had enough of moving angel statues for the rest of my life.” The Doctor winced and nodded. They noticed a small, red-skinned alien walk past. “So, definitely not the real Titanic then.”

“Nope,” he popped the p. They walked over to a window and looked out at the Earth.

A voice spoke over the intercom, “Attention all passengers. The Titanic is now in orbit above Sol Three, also known as Earth. Population, Human. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Christmas.”

“Ah, Merry Christmas Rose.”

“Merry Christmas, Doctor.” She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.

They walked over to a screen on the wall showing a bald man with a thin moustache behind a desk. “Max Capricorn Cruise Liners. The fastest, the farthest, the best. And I should know because my name is Max.” Rose grimaced as there was an exaggerated glint off Max’s gold tooth.

The steward walked by and wished them a merry Christmas. The Doctor and Rose walked over to one of the angels. Rose rolled her eyes as she overheard a man talking on his phone. “It's not a holiday for me, not while I've still got my vone. Now do as I say and sell.”

“Evening. Passenger fifty-seven. Terrible memory. Remind me. You would be?” The Doctor questioned.

“Information. Heavenly Host supplying tourist information.” The angel spoke in an even tone.

“Good, so, tell me, because I'm an idiot, where are we from?” Rose laughed at his phrasing.

“Information. The Titanic is en route from the planet Sto in the Cassavalian Belt. The purpose of the cruise is to experience primitive cultures.”

“Who thought of the name Titanic?” Rose asked.

“Information. It was chosen as the most famous vessel of the planet Earth.”

“Did they tell you why it was famous?” The Doctor furrowed his brows.

“Information. All designations are chosen by Mister Max Capricorn, president of Max, Max, Max…” The host twitched, and its voice got higher. The steward came over and got between them and the host.

“Ooh, bit of a glitch.” The Doctor reached for his sonic to scan the host, but the steward waved him off.

“It's all right, sir, we can handle this.” Two more officers came over, and they switched off the host before carrying it away. “Software problem, that's all. Leave it with us, sir. Merry Christmas. That's another one down. What's going on with these things?”

“Well, that’s not suspicious at all.” Rose said.

“Ah, well, for now,” the Doctor looked around at the dancing couples, “can I have this dance?” He held his hand out to her.

Rose smiled widely, looking up at him with soft eyes and seeing the love in his eyes. “I would love to, Doctor.” He led her onto the dance floor and held her close as they swayed around the room for a few songs.

Rose noticed the rude businessman from earlier bump into a waitress, making her drop a tray of drinks. “For Tov's sake, look where you're going. This jacket's a genuine Earth antique.”

“I’m sorry sir,” the waitress replied timidly. Rose scowled, and the Doctor watched her storm over, following close behind.

“You'll be sorry when it comes off your wages, sweetheart. Staffed by idiots. No wonder Max Capricorn's going down the drain.” He scowled down at her.

“Excuse me, _sir,_ ” Rose emphasized the ‘sir’ sarcastically. “Are you so self-important that you can blame someone else for you not paying attention. Cause I was watching, and _you_ bumped into her. She tried to go around you, but you weren’t paying attention. Why bother go on vacation if you are going to ignore everything other than your vone? She doesn’t owe you an apology, and how dare you threaten her? You owe her an apology!” Rose stood threateningly despite being shorter than the businessman.

“Excuse me, do you know who you’re talking to?”

“Yeah, I’m talking to a selfish little a-” Rose shouted, but the waitress stood and grabbed her elbow.

“Miss, please, it’s not worth it.” Rose looked to the waitress and sighed. She knelt to help her clean up the broken glasses, and the man walked away. The Doctor smirked and joined them on the floor.

“What’s your name?” Rose asked.

“Astrid, miss, Astrid Peth.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Rose Tyler. This is the Doctor.” She stood up.

“Nice to meet you, Astrid. Merry Christmas.” The Doctor told her, helping her to her feet.

“Merry Christmas, sir.”

“Just Doctor, not sir.”

“Are you two enjoying the cruise?”

“Yes, we are. What about you? Long way from home, planet Sto.” The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand again.

“Doesn't feel that different. I spent three years working at the spaceport diner, travelled all the way here, and I'm still waiting on tables.”

“Don’t you get any shore leave?” Rose asked.

“We're not allowed. They can't afford the insurance. I just wanted to try it, just once. I used to watch the ships heading out to the stars and I always dreamt of. It sounds daft.”

“Doesn’t sound daft at all.” Rose looked at the Doctor. _I like her. I think she’d do well with us._ The Doctor nodded, impressed at the level her telepathy had reached in such a short time.

“You dreamt of another sky. New sun, new air, new life. A whole universe teeming with life. Why stand still when there're all that life out there?” The Doctor tested, watching her faraway look.

“So, you travel a lot?” Astrid asked dreamily.

“All the time. Just for fun. Well, that's the plan. Never quite works.” Rose laughed at the Doctor’s explanation. Peaceful trips were the ‘bits in between’ not the other way around.

“Must be rich, though.” Astrid replied.

“Haven't got a penny. Stowaways.” Rose nudged him with her elbow, and he grinned.

“Kidding?” Astrid raised her eyebrows.

“Seriously.” Rose nodded along with the Doctor.

“No.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“How did you get on board?” Astrid’s eyes widened.

“Accident.” He admitted. “I've got this, sort of, ship thing. I was just rebuilding her. Left the defenses down. Bumped into the Titanic. Here I am. Bit of a party. I thought, why not?”

“I should report you.”

“Go on then.” Rose challenged playfully.

“I'll get you drinks on the house.” The couple watched as their new friend walked away.

“Yeah, she’d fit in with our life pretty well.” Rose said, and the Doctor looked at her with excitement, leaning down to kiss her.

“Well, shall we look around some more?” He took her hand, and she nodded, allowing him to pull her towards a dining room.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for leaving comments and kudos!

As they walked into the dining room, they saw a group of people laughing at two people in purple cowboy outfits eating their dinner. Rose and the Doctor scowled.

“People never really change do they.” Rose rolled her eyes.

“Just ignore them.” The man said to the woman with him.

“Something’s tickled them.” The Doctor and Rose sat at their table.

“They told us it was fancy dress. Very funny, I'm sure.” The woman told them.

“They're just picking on us because we haven't paid. We won our tickets in a competition.” The man added.

“I had to name the five husbands of Joofie Crystalle in By the Light of the Asteroid. Did you ever watch By the Light of the Asteroid?” The woman looked up at them proudly.

“Oh, yeah, the one with the twins! I love that one.” Rose smiled.

“But we're not good enough for that lot. They think we should be in steerage.” The man gestured bitterly at the crowd of people still laughing.

“Well, we can’t have that now, can we?” The Doctor smirked and looked to Rose, who nodded at him proudly. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and subtly pointed it at the crowd, causing a bottle of champagne to fountain up and spray them all.

“Did you do that?” The woman exclaimed.

“Maybe.” The Doctor replied with a satisfied grin.

“We like you.” The woman nodded as she spoke.

“We do. I'm Morvin Van Hoff. This is my good woman, Foon.” The man introduced them.

“I’m Rose, and this is the Doctor.”

“Oh, I'm going to need a Doctor, time I've finished with that buffet. Have a buffalo wing. They must be enormous, these buffalo. So many wings.” Foon added with a tone of amazement as she inspected the buffalo wings.

A voice came over the loudspeaker “Attention please. Shore leave tickets Red Six Seven now activated. Red Six Seven.”

Foon wiped her face, and she and her husband stood and grabbed their tickets. “Red Six Seven. That's us. Are you Red Six Seven?

Rose smiled up, and the Doctor and he answered. “Might as well be.”

“Come on, then. We're going to Earth.” Morvin answered, excited to see another world.

They walked together back to the reception hall, where a man in a tweed jacket was holding a sign, calling for red 6-7.

Astrid approached them. “I got you those drinks.”

“And I got you a treat.” He Doctor took her tray from her and set it on a table, maneuvering her towards the man in the tweed jacket. “Come on.” The Doctor held up his psychic paper and collected three teleport bracelets. Astrid looked between him and Rose in amazement.

“I’ll get the sack.” She tried to argue.

“Oh, come on. A whole new sky. Different ground beneath your feet.” Rose could understand another reason why the Doctor brought people along with him. She was excited to see Astrid visit a new planet for the first time.

They all turned their attention to the man in the tweed jacket. “To repeat, I am Mister Copper, the ship's historian, and I shall be taking you to old London town in the country of UK, ruled over by good King Wenceslas. Now, human beings worship the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws, and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve, the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner like savages.”

“Excuse me?” Rose kept her voice relatively quiet, but it was loud enough for Mister Copper to take notice.

Luckily the Doctor covered for her outburst, “Sorry, sorry, but, er, where are you getting this all from?”

“Well, I have a first class degree in Earthonomics. Now, stand by.” Mister Copper looked a little nervous, and he was relieved when a small red alien came running up, saving him from further questions.

“And me! And me! Red Six Seven.” Rose raised her eyebrows, wondering what they were going to do to hide his appearance.

“Well, take a bracelet, please, sir.” Mister Copper collected his ticket.

“But, er, hold on, hold on. What was your name?” The Doctor chimed in worriedly.

“Bannakaffalatta.”

“Okay, Bannakaffalatta. But it's Christmas Eve down there. Late night shopping, tons of people. He's like a talking conker.” Rose elbowed him in the side. “No offence, but you'll cause a riot because the streets are going to be packed with shoppers and parties and-” The Doctor was not able to finish his thought before they appeared in a mostly empty street. Rose looked around in confusion, while Astrid stared at her surroundings, barely blinking, afraid to miss any detail. “Oh,” his said in surprise as he looked around.

Mister Copper addressed the group once again, “Now, spending money. I have a credit card in Earth currency if you want to buy trinkets, or stockings, or the local delicacy, which is known as beef, but don't stray too far, it could be dangerous. Any day now they start boxing.” Rose winced. The group went their separate ways down the street.

“It should be full. It should be busy. Something's wrong.” The Doctor worried aloud.

“Where is everyone?” Rose asked at the same time.

“But it's beautiful.” Astrid was still staring up at the sky and down the streets. Rose loved London, it was still her home, but she was surprised to see how amazed Astrid was by it.

It seemed the Doctor shared her feelings. “Really? Do you think so? It's just a street. The pyramids are beautiful, and New Zealand…”

Astrid wasn’t going to let anything diminish what she was experiencing. “But it's a different planet. I'm standing on a different planet. There's concrete and shops. Alien shops. Real alien shops! Look, no stars in the sky. And it smells. It stinks! Oh, this is amazing. Thank you!” She hugged the Doctor and Rose in turn.

Her enthusiasm was contagious. Rose grabbed the Doctor’s hand as he spoke. “Yeah? Come on then, let's have a look.” They walked up to a news stand, and greeted the old man working there, the first human they had seen so far. “Hello, there. Sorry, obvious question, but where's everybody gone?

“Oh ho, scared!” He answered.

“Scared of what?” Rose asked.

“Where've you been living? London at Christmas? Not safe, is it.” The man looked at them blankly.

“Why?” The Doctor pressed.

“Well, it's them, up above.” The old man pointed to the sky. “Look, Christmas before last we had that big bloody spaceship, everyone standing on a roof. And then last year, that Christmas Star electrocuting all over the place, draining the Thames.”

Rose tilted her head to the Doctor. _You drained the Thames for Christmas?_ She asked him telepathically.

_Hungry spider aliens were hatching and planning to devour the Earth. It was a whole thing. Oh, that’s when I met Donna. Donna was brilliant. You would like her._

_I’m sure I would Doctor._

_Fiery red head with an attitude to match. She didn’t want to come though._ He looked sad as he told her that, but something told her it wouldn’t be the last they heard of Donna.

“This place is amazing.” Astrid spoke and brought them both out of their heads.

“And this year, Lord knows what. So, everybody's scarpered. Gone to the country. All except me and Her Majesty.” The old man stood up and pointed to the tv.

The broadcaster spoke. “Her Majesty the Queen has confirmed that she'll be staying in Buckingham Palace throughout the festive season to show the people of London, and the world, that there's nothing to fear.”

“God bless her.” The old man saluted. “We stand vigil.”

The Doctor nodded. “Well, between you and me, I think her Majesty's got it right. Far as I know, this year, nothing to worry about.” Rose rolled her eyes as he jinxed them. Then they all reappeared on the ship.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your support!

“I was in mid-sentence.” The Doctor complained when they reappeared on the ship.

“Probably freaked out that man, and he was one of few brave enough to stick around.”

Mister Copper shook his head and approached them, “Yes, I'm sorry about that. A bit of a problem. If I could have your bracelets?” The group handed over their teleports.

The steward approached offering an explanation, and Astrid hid, hoping to avoid getting sacked. “Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, and Bannakaffalatta. We seem to have suffered a slight power fluctuation. If you'd like to return to the festivities. And on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners, free drinks will be provided.

“Thank you.” Foon acknowledged with a big smile.

Astrid stopped hiding behind the Doctor’s tall frame. “That was the best. The best!”

But the Doctor had already moved on. “What sort of power fluctuation?” Rose followed close behind as he tried to question the steward. He brushed him off and told him it was nothing to worry about, but quickly walked away to avoid further questions.

“Yeah, probably nothing to worry about.” Rose only managed to keep a straight face for a few seconds before they both laughed and made their way over to the screen where another Max Capricorn promise video was playing.

The Doctor used his sonic to open the panel and access the wiring. The screen now flashed with a ‘Shields Down’ warning. “Nothing to worry about at all, huh?” He frowned. He urgently reached out to the captain’s deck. “Is that the bridge? I need to talk to the Captain. You've got a meteoroid storm coming in **w** est zero by north two.”

“Who is this?” The captain demanded.

“Never mind that, your shields are down. Check your scanners, Captain. You've got meteoroids coming in and no shielding.”

“You have no authorization. You will clear the comms at once.”

“Who cares about authorization? We’re all in danger look out your window!” Rose fired back.

“Starboard!” The Doctor shouted as the steward appeared at his side.

“Come with me sir and madam.” The steward and a couple other staff members grabbed hold of them and stared pulling them away.

“You've got a rock storm heading for this ship, and the shields are down.” The Doctor continued to argue, and Rose fought herself out of her captor’s grip, but continued following them. When they continued to ignore the Doctor, he broke free and grabbed Rose’s hand. They ran over to a stage where a woman was singing and a crowd had gathered. He took the mic from the singer. “Everyone, listen to me! This is an emergency! Get to the lifeb-” A host grabbed him, covering his mouth.

“The lifeboats! Get-” Rose was similarly silenced.

“Look out the windows!” They continued to shout as they were dragged away. “If you don't believe me, check the shields yourself.”

Astrid, Bannakaffalatta, Morvin, and Foon ran up behind them.

“Sir, I can vouch for them!” Astrid defended.

“Look, Steward, he's just had a bit too much to drink.” Morvin excused.

Mister Copper came up and begged the attention of the steward. “Sir, something seems to have gone wrong. All the teleports have gone down.”

“Not now!” The steward shouted.

Rose and the Doctor continued to try to explain the situation as they were dragged into corridor after corridor, and the others continued to fight for them. It would have been very sweet other than the complete cacophony it created.

The obnoxious businessman from earlier appeared behind the group. “Oi! Steward! I'm telling you; the shields are down!”

“Listen to him!” The Doctor yelled in the steward’s face, but it was too late. The rock storm had reached the ship. They rocked as asteroids hit the side of the ship. An explosion sent Rose and Astrid flying against the opposite wall. They groaned in pain. “Rose!” The Doctor screamed.

“I’ll be fine in a second.” She attempted to reassure him while pulling a piece of the wall out of her side. “Astrid?”

“I think so… Oh my!” She shouted as she saw Rose’s injury.

“Rose,” the Doctor was at her side. He sighed heavily as he saw her wound closing. “I am really grateful for your new healing, but I’m starting to get annoyed by our inability to find out why.”

Rose chuckled lightly and ran her hand over his face. “I’m ok. Let’s get everyone taken care of, alright?” He nodded.

“It’s alright, sweetheart.” Morvin soothed a whimpering Foon.

“Shush,” The Doctor held up one finger. “it’s stopping. Bad name for a ship. Either that or this suit is really unlucky.” He muttered, and Rose laughed nervously.

“Probably the name. I like the suit.” He smiled goofily at her.

A screen nearby tried to play the Max Capricorn commercial, but it was glitching. The steward stood and addressed the group. “Er, everyone. Ladies and gentlemen, Bannakaffalatta. I must apologise on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners. We seem to have had a small collision.”

“Small?” Morvin shouted, then the rest of the group joined in. The ridiculous businessman from earlier complaining about the money he spent.

The Doctor, Astrid, and Rose went to check on Mister Copper, who had a large cut on his head.

The steward tried to calm them down, or at the very least shut them up. “If I could have silence, ladies, gentlemen. Please. Quiet! Thank you. I'm sure Max Capricorn Cruise Liners will be able to reimburse you for any inconvenience, but first I would point out that we're very much alive. She is, after all, a fine, sturdy ship. If you could all stay here while I ascertain the exact nature of the situation.”

“Don’t open it!” The Doctor shouted as the steward reached for the hatch. Once again, he heeded the Doctor too late. The steward was sucked out into space. Everyone clung to the nearest object, and the Doctor desperately searched for Rose’s form while pulling out his sonic screwdriver and resetting the oxygen shield.

“Oxygen shield stabilized.” A computerized voice spoke overhead.

“Rose!” The Doctor called, and he lung to her side the moment their feet hit the ground.

“Doctor, I’m not going to leave you.” She kissed him and kept her hand on the side of his face. “I promise. The Universe can’t pull us apart again. _Wolfie_ won’t allow it.” He pulled her into a tight hug, praying that was true and reassuring himself that it was true for now. But that didn’t stop his mind from noticing how similar this felt to Canary Wharfe, both of them hanging onto the wall for dear life.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support!

“Everyone all right? Astrid?” Rose asked, pulling away from the Doctor just enough to speak to the group.

“Yeah.” Astrid answered breathlessly.

“Foon? Morvin? Mister Copper? Bannakaffalatta?” The Doctor listed off.

“Yes.” Bannakaffalatta answered. Morvin and Foon nodded, not trusting themselves to speak. Mister Copper nodded absently, holding his cut head.

“You, what was your name?” The Doctor asked the self-absorbed businessman.

“Rickston Slade.” He looked at the Doctor like he should have known that already, and Rose barely restrained herself from smacking him.

“You all right?” The Doctor questioned.

“No thanks to that idiot.” He answered gruffly, fixing his suit.

“The steward just died.” Astrid challenged him, tears welling in her eyes. While Rose’s eyes had tears shining in them as well, she instinctively knew this was the first time Astrid had seen someone die. She hoped, despite reason, that it would be the last.

“Then he's a dead idiot.” Rose stormed toward Slade, but the Doctor held her back.

“All right, calm down. Just stay still, all of you. Hold on.” The Doctor instructed, walking a few feet away to look into another corridor. Rose and Astrid followed.

“What happened? How come the shields were down?” Rose turned her attention to the Doctor, doing her best not to ignore Slade’s callousness.

“I don't think it was an accident.” He said, gesturing with his chin toward a gaping hole in the side of the ship, where there were too many bodies floating in space to count.

“How many dead?” Astrid asked them, desperation seeping into her voice.

Rose grabbed her arm and turned her away from the sight, pulling her into a hug as the Doctor spoke, “We're alive. Just focus on that. I will get you out of here, Astrid, I promise. Look at me. promise. Good. Now, if we can get to Reception, I've got a spaceship tucked away. We can all get on board and. Oh.”

“Not so easy this time, love.” Rose bit her lip.

“What is it? What's wrong?” Astrid asked as the Doctor looked out and ran his fingers through his hair.

“That's my ship over there.” Rose let Astrid turn back to look out into space, and he pointed to where the TARDIS was floating towards the Earth.

“Where?”

“There. That box. That little blue box.” Rose gestured to their home.

“That's a spaceship?”

“Oi, don't knock it.” The Doctor defended.

“It's a bit small.” Rose laughed at Astrid’s confusion, and the Doctor’s proud defensiveness.

“A bit distant. Trouble is, once it's set adrift, it's programmed to lock onto the nearest center of gravity, and that would be the Earth.” He explained.

The Doctor looked around briefly for some sort of communicator, and finally found a mic back in the room where they had left the others. “Deck twenty-two to the bridge. Deck twenty-two to the bridge. Is there anyone there?”

“This is the bridge.” A voice came through.

“Oh hello, sailor,” the Doctor greeted happily. “Good to hear you. What's the situation up there?”

The voice struggled to answer, “We've got air. The oxygen field is holding, but the Captain, he's dead. He did it. I watched while he took down the shields. There was nothing I could do. I tried. I did try.”

“All right. Just stay calm. Tell me your name. What's your name?”

“Midshipman Frame.”

“Nice to meet you, sir. What's the state of the engines?”

“They're er. Hold on.” Frame grunted in pain.

“Have you been injured?”

“I'm all right.” His voice was still strained. “Oh, my Vot. They're cycling down.”

The Doctor grimaced. “That's a nuclear storm drive, yes?” Rose wasn’t sure what was going on, but it was clear their night was not about to get any easier.

“Yeah.”

“The moment they're gone, we lose orbit.” The Doctor explained.

“The planet?” Frame asked, genuinely concerned.

“Oh, yes. If we hit the planet, the nuclear storm explodes and wipes out life on Earth.” The Doctor whispered, thinking.

“Well, looks like that old man had a point about Christmases lately.” Rose matched the Doctor’s strained, but contemplative tone.

“Midshipman, I need you to fire up the engine containment field and feed it back into the core.”

“This is never going to work.”

“Trust me, it'll keep the engines going until I can get to the bridge.”

“We're going to die.” Foon cried.

Mister Copper spoke next, reluctant to believe his ears. “Are you saying someone's done this on purpose?”

“We are. We're going to die.” Foon repeated to herself, and everyone started panicking again, pulling the Doctor away from his conversation.

“We're just a cruise ship.” Astrid complained.

“Okay, okay. Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush. First things first. One. We are going to climb through this ship. B. No. Two. We're going to reach the bridge. Three. Or C. We're going to save the Titanic. And, coming in a very low four, or D, or that little iv in brackets they use in footnotes, why. Right then, follow me.” The Doctor explained.

Rose’s jaw tensed as Slade opened his mouth, “Hang on a minute. Who put you in charge and who the hell are you anyway?”

The Doctor looked Slade in the eyes, his jaw set and traces of the Oncoming Storm in his gaze, “I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old, and I'm the man who's going to save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?” Rose wanted to laugh at his dramatic speech, but it was also a bit attractive.

“No.” Slade yielded.

The Doctor’s face softened quickly, “In that case, allons-y!” Rose smiled at his enthusiasm.

The Doctor pushed up against the bulkhead. “Careful. Follow me.”

Mister Copper spoke up, “Rather ironic, but this is very much in the spirit of Christmas. It's a festival of violence. They say that human beings only survive depending on whether they've been good or bad. It's barbaric.”

Rose turned to him, “Actually, that's not true. Christmas is a time of, of peace and thanksgiving and family.” The Doctor looked at her with concern, but she was alright. She still had family: him. “Wars have paused to have a peaceful happy Christmas.” They kept walking.

“Although, my Christmases are always like this.” The Doctor whispered to her, and she laughed.

“Almost everyday is like this with you.” She bumped him with her hip.

“No, the trouble’s just-” she mouthed the last bit with him, mockingly, “the bits in between.”

The Doctor waved at the group happily. “We've got a Host. Strength of ten. If we can mend it, we can use it to fix the rubble.”

Morvin echoed his excitement. “We can do robotics. Both of us.”

“We work on the milk market back on Sto. It's all robot staff.” Foon added.

“See if you can get it working. Let's have a look.” The Doctor encouraged.

“No,” Rose said forcefully.

“What?”

“No, those things were the first signs that something was wrong on the ship. They kept glitching. We have been attacked by robot Santas and angel statues. I don’t want to know what an angel robot will do to us.”

“Get your wife under control, won’t you, all powerful Time Lord?” Slade rolled his eyes as he walked past Rose.

“She’s right, and you’ll regret saying that.” The Doctor chuckled slightly, moving to lead everyone up the path. Morvin and Foon looked a little disappointed to no longer have a use, but Rose was confident that the host would be problematic rather than helpful.

“How many failing ships have you survived? How many sabotages? Have you done anything adventurous or dangerous with your life or do you just make calls and treat others like garbage? I have saved several planets and countless people. I have done more in my life than you ever will. I have been doing stuff like this longer than you’ve been alive, so I’ve had just about enough of your misogynistic, self-absorbed mouth.” Rose continued to lecture and threaten him, falling behind the group.

“It's blocked.” Astrid noted aloud, and Rose stopped bothering with Slade and moved to stand by Astrid and the Doctor.

“So what do we do?” The Doctor questioned.

“We shift it.” Astrid supplied.

“That's the attitude!” The Doctor proudly announced, “Rickston, Mister Copper, and you, Bannakaffalatta. Look, can I just call you Banna? It's going to save a lot of time.”

“No. Bannakaffalatta.”

“All right then, Bannakaffalatta. There's a gap in the middle. See if you can get through.”

“Easy. Good.” He started climbing through the gap, but the ship started shaking.

“This whole thing could come crashing down any minute.” Slade complained.

“Oh, Rickston,” The Doctor called sarcastically, “I forgot. Did you get that message?”

“No. What message?”

“Shut up!” Slade scowled at him and backed away.

“Bannakaffalatta made it.” Bannakaffalatta called from the other side of the debris.

“I'm small enough, I can get through.” Astrid began climbing through the small gap.

“Careful.” Rose and the Doctor called out as the rubble shifted a little more.

“I'm fine.”

Slade approached them again. “Thing is, how are Mister and Mrs Fatso going to get through that gap?”

This time Rose didn’t stop herself from slapping him. Slade reared back in shock as if he’d never been slapped before in his life which Rose found hard to believe. “The next words out of your mouth had better be useful, or I will make sure you don’t speak again.” Her eyes glowed threateningly. Foon smiled gratefully at Rose’s defense, but there was still hurt in her eyes.

“We make the gap bigger. So start.” The Doctor gestured for Slade to start moving rubble.

Morvin held his wife close. “Hey, hey. Come on, sweetheart. Don't listen to him.”

“No, but it's all my fault, though. The tickets.” Foon moaned.

“We won them fair and square.”

She looked down in shame. “I know. I never told you. I dialed the competition line five thousand times. That's five thousand credits. I might as well have paid for the tickets. I've been hiding the vone bill for months now.”

Morvin looked at her in disbelief, “Five thousand credits? You spent five thousand credits?”

“Don't hate me.” He laughed as she pleaded.

“What's so funny?”

“Five thousand?”

“We'll never pay that off.”

“I know. I'll have to work twenty years, you mad, bloody woman.”

“You're not cross?”

“Does it matter? Look at us. You drive me barmy. I don't half love you, Mrs Van Hoff. Come here.” He pulled her in for a hug.

Rose saw Slade watching them and rolling his eyes. She glared at him, daring him to speak.

“I can clear it from this side. Just tell me if it starts moving.” Astrid called across. “Bannakaffalatta, what's wrong?”

The Doctor could hear that Astrid and Bannakaffalatta were talking, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. “What's going on up there?” He called.

Astrid answered back with a smile in her voice. “I think Bannakaffalatta and I just got engaged.”

“Congratulations!” Rose laughed brightly.

The Doctor managed to get Frame on the comms again. “Mister Frame, how's things?”

The young midshipman’s reply came back breathlessly. “Doctor, I've got life signs all over the ship but they're going out one by one.”

“What is it? Are they losing air?”

“No, one of them said it was a host.” Rose sighed. She was glad to have stopped them from repairing the host, but sad to know she was right, and people were dying.

They managed to widen the gap enough for everyone to get through, and they made their way into a clearer corridor. What they unfortunately missed, was the host was repairing itself.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for leaving comments and kudos!

“Morvin, look. Food.” Foon called out as she spotted a sandwich laden trolley.

“Oh great. Someone's happy.” Slade mocked.

“Don't have any then.” Morvin snapped back.

“Mister Frame, are you still there?”

“Yes, sir, but I've got Host outside. I've sealed the door.” He groaned from the exertion and injury.

“They've been programmed to kill. Why would anyone do that?” Rose asked.

“That's not the only problem, Miss. I had to use a maximum deadlock on the door, which means no one can get in. I'm sealed off. Even if you can fix the Titanic, you can't get to the bridge.”

“Yeah, right, fine. One problem at a time.” The Doctor ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up.

Astrid walked over with two plates of food. “Saved you some. You might be a Time King from Gaddabee, and I’m not really sure what you are, but you need to eat.”

“Thank you,” Rose took the plates from her while the Doctor was still focused.

“So, you don’t look nine hundred and three.” She commented.

“You should see me in the mornings.” The Doctor joked.

“Okay.” She laughed nervously, looking at Rose. “And, um, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”

“About 75.” She laughed as Astrid shook her head.

“You’ve been taking care of everyone else, but you must be pretty scared yourself.” Astrid put a hand on her shoulder.

Rose gave a small laugh. “You’d be surprised how often this happens to me. We’ll figure it out. The Doctor always does.”

“You have a lot of faith in your husband.”

“We’re not actually married.” Rose smiled. They had talked about it, and the Doctor hadn’t corrected Slade on that point earlier, but if Astrid was potentially going to travel with them, she should know.

“Yet,” he added, smiling down at her as he sat to eat with them. He was fiddling with some scraps, probably trying to build a portable communicator.

Her smile widened. “Yet.”

“Oh, you’re engaged.” Foon cooed, joining them along with Morvin.

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. “Not officially, no.”

“Oh,” she stumbled. Rose laughed. Morvin and Foon backed away from the awkward turn of the conversation, under the guise of grabbing more food.

Mister Copper walked over. “Doctor, it must be well past midnight, Earth time. Christmas Day.”

“So it is. Merry Christmas.” _If only we had some mistletoe_ , he added to Rose. She laughed and kissed his cheek.

“This Christmas thing, what's it all about?”

“Long story. I should know, I was there. I got the last room.” Rose rolled her eyes at his nonexplanation. He waved them off.

“It’s really a religious holiday to celebrate the birth of the savior of the world, but even nonreligious people celebrate it as a family centered day.” Rose explained.

“But if the planet's waking up, can't we signal them? They could send up a rocket or something.” Copper pressed. Shaking his head.

“They don't have spaceships.” The Doctor corrected.

“No, I read about it. They have shuffles. Space shuffles.” Copper argued.

“Mister Copper, this degree in Earthonomics, where's it from?” The Doctor looked at him quizzically.

He hung his head then looked back up to meet the Doctor’s eyes, “Honestly?” He blinked quickly.

“Just between us.” Rose assured him.

“Mrs Golightly's Happy Travelling University and Dry Cleaners.” He shook his head and wiped at his forehead with a cloth. He sat beside them, resigned.

Astrid looked at him with wide eyes, “You, you lied to the company to get the job?”

“I wasted my life on Sto. I was a travelling salesman, always on the road, and I reached retirement with nothing to show for it. Not even a home. And Earth sounded so exotic.”

“Hmm. I suppose it is, yeah.” The Doctor tilted his head.

“How come you two know it so well?” Astrid asked them.

“I’m from Earth. I’m human, mostly.” Rose added the last part when she saw Astrid mutter ’75?” under her breath. 

The Doctor hesitated, “I was sort of, a few years ago, I was sort of made, well, sort of homeless, and, er, there was the Earth, and I met Rose.” She kissed him and took his hand.

“The thing is,” Copper explained, bringing the conversation back, a little uncomfortable with the display. “if we survive this, there'll be police and all sorts of investigations. Now the minimum penalty for space lane fraud is ten years in jail. I'm an old man. I won't survive ten years.”

Rose put a comforting hand on his shoulder, then looked down the hall, “One more problem.” Rose nervously pointed to the host coming into the hallway. “Run!” Rose corralled everyone through a door, but that just left another problem: a rickety old pathway, with a long drop and a hot landing.

“Kill. Kill. Kill.” The host chanted with a hollow voice.

The Doctor frantically looked for something to hold back the host with. He scanned it with the sonic, “Information override! You will tell me the point of origin of your command structure!”

The host paused, “Information. Deck thirty-one.”

“Thank you.” He ducked into the room with the others and sealed the door as best as he could. “That won’t hold it long.” He spoke into his new device. “Frame, what's on deck thirty-one?”

“Er, that's down below. It's nothing. It's just the Host storage deck. That's where we keep the robots.” Rose could hear his voice breaking more often.

“Well, can you scan down there? See if there’s anything?”

“I can try. There’s a spot that’s completely black. It's registering nothing. No power, no heat, no light. I've never seen it before.” His voice was laced with confusion.

The Doctor repeated Frame’s assessment to himself. “One hundred percent shielded. What's down there?”

“I'll try intensifying the scanner.” They heard him mess with the controls a bit more.

“Let me know if you find anything. And keep those engines going.” The Doctor turned his focus to the situation in front of them.

“Is that the only way across?” Slade gestured to a narrow catwalk and a fallen beam.

“On the other hand, it is a way across.” The Doctor answered with a false cheer.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support!

The Doctor grimaced as he looked at the dangerous pathway. Slade was right to question the path, but it was their only option.

“The engines are open.” Astrid worried aloud.

“Nuclear storm drive. As soon as it stops, the Titanic falls.” The Doctor explained.

Morvin spoke up next. “But that thing, it'll never take our weight.” He held Foon close to him.

Slade scowled at him. “You're going last, mate.”

Rose glared at Slade while the Doctor tried to calm them, “It's nitrofin metal. It's stronger than it looks.”

“All the same, Rickston's right. Me and Foon should-” Morvin stepped forward and away from Foon, but the metal gave way under him. Rose lunged to grab his hand but couldn’t reach him in time. She kept her hand outstretched and began to glow golden.

“Morvin!” Foon shouted.

“I told you. I told y-” There was a golden glow around Slade’s throat and, though his mouth continued to move, no sound came out.

“What’s happening?” Mr. Copper looked to the Doctor for an answer, but he was entirely focused on Rose. 

“Bring him back! Can't you bring him back? Bring him back, Doctor!” Foon cried, pulling at his arm.

“Rose,” he called, stepping closer to her. “Rose can you hear me?” He took the hand that still laid at her side.

“You promised me.” Foon tried again.

“I know. I know, and I think she’s trying, but I-” he shook his head and turned his attention back to Rose. “Rose, are you there?”

“She is asleep. I am awake. They are coming.” Bad Wolf’s voice answered.

“This is the big event you’ve been preparing her for?” The Doctor asked in disbelief.

“No, we are not yet ready. She cannot hold my full power. This will help her develop, but then she must sleep. She will sleep.”

“Can you save Morvin?” Foon pleaded to Bad Wolf this time.

“Is Rose ok?” Astrid asked.

“She is sleeping.” Bad Wolf repeated.

Rose’s voice in the Doctor’s head reminded him that Bad Wolf needed her alive and was fully capable of keeping her alive.

“Cross the bridge.” Bad Wolf ordered. Slade didn’t need to be told twice. He ran across.

“But Morvin-”

“Cross the bridge.”

“Doctor, I rather think that those things have got our scent.” Mr. Copper kept a wary eye on Rose, but he was more focused on the Hosts approaching.

“Foon!” Morvin yelled, wrapped in a golden glow, flying to the other side.

“Morvin, you’re alive!” Foon yelled.

“Careful. Take it slowly!” The Doctor shouted at Slade, but he didn’t listen. The ship shook, and Slade fell, horror evident in his eyes. “You're okay. A step at a time. Come on, you can do it.”

“They're getting nearer.” Copper warned. He looked toward the sealed door. “We’re trapped.”

“Never say trapped, just inconveniently circumstanced.” The Doctor corrected distractedly, still watching Rose. Slade made it to the other side, and the Doctor waved for Bannakaffalatta to go next.

“Bannakaffalatta small.”

“Slowly,” the Doctor cautioned. The more hosts joined the one pounding on the bulkhead. “The rest of you need to go. Quickly!” He yelled. He ran back to Rose’s side.

“What about you?” Astrid yelled.

“Don’t worry about me. Just keep moving.” He yelled back. “Rose, are you in there?”

“She is sleeping. It will keep her mind safe.”

“She needs to get across too. Now!” The Doctor pleaded.

“I will carry her over. You must cross on your own. Open the door.”

The Doctor shook his head. “I’m not leaving without her.”

“You once said you believed in her. I need you to believe in both of us now. I will keep her safe.” Rose’s voice joined Bad Wolf’s. “I need you safe, My Doctor. Cross the bridge.”

The Doctor bowed his head and moved to cross the bridge, pushing Foon in front of him as the hosts finally broke down the door.

The bridge creaked and groaned. “Too many people!” Bannakaffalatta shouted. Whether it was Rose or Bad Wolf that whimpered the Doctor wasn’t sure, but he was worried either way when they started supporting the bridge. She finally managed to set Morvin down by the far door and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Kill. Kill. Kill.” The hosts chanted as they flooded into the room. Bad Wolf held them at bay.

“Hurry.” She ordered.

The Doctor pushed the rest of them across but stayed on the bridge close to the door.

“Now come over.” He yelled to Bad Wolf. “Come with us, please.”

“Get the door open.” The Doctor’s jaw clenched, but he obeyed and started sonic-ing the door.

The door opened, and the others funneled into the next corridor. Slade moved to leave the Doctor and Rose behind, but Morvin and Foon blocked him. He scowled but leaned up against the wall, seeing no other option.

Bad Wolf spoke again, “My power is limited. Ask them what you must.” The Doctor looked at her confused but addressed the hosts.

“Override loophole. Security protocol ten. Six six six. Er, twenty-one, four, five, six, seven, eight. I don't know, forty-two? Er, one!” The Doctor rambled, waving for Rose to come to the other side with him.

They stopped fighting against Bad Wolf’s shield, giving her a moment of relief. “Information. State request.”

“Good. Right. You've been ordered to kill the survivors, but why?”

“Information. No witnesses.”

“But this ship's going to fall on the Earth and kill everyone. The human race have nothing to do with the Titanic, so that contravenes your orders, yes?”

“Information. Incorrect.”

“But why do you want to destroy the Earth?”

“Information. It is the plan.”

“What plan?”

“Information. Protocol grants you only three questions. These three questions have been used.”

“Well, you could have warned me.”

“Information. Now you will die.” They began to chant again and push against the golden glow. Bad Wolf winced, and the glow began to surround them and drag them into the hot engine, melting them down.

Bad Wolf disappeared and reappeared by the door next to the Doctor and immediately stopped glowing and collapsed. The Doctor managed to catch her before she hit the ground. “Rose! Rose, answer me, please.” When she remained unresponsive, he looked into her mind. She was dreaming. She was alright.

“What’s going on?” Mr. Copper asked.

Morvin, holding Foon’s hand, asked, “Is she alright? Does she do that a lot?”

Astrid put a hand on the Doctor’s shoulder with a look similar to pity, and he sighed. “She’ll be alright, but she won’t be able to bail us out again.” His face hardened. “Right. Get yourself up to Reception One. Morvin, Foon, you’ll need to carry Rose. You might be able to take her on that cart.” He pointed a little further down the hall to a cleaner’s cart. “Take good care of her. Once you're there, Mister Copper, you've got staff access to the computer. Try to find a way of transmitting an SOS. Take this.” He handed him the sonic screwdriver. “I've preset it. Just hold down that button, it'll open doors. Do not lose it! You got that? Now go and open the next door. Go on, go!” The Doctor passed Mr. Copper a first aid kit. “Mister Copper, you're going to need this. I need you fighting fit.”

“What if we run into more hosts?” Mr. Copper asked.

The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair. “Uh, um, I don’t know give me a minute.”

Bannakaffalatta looked around nervously. “Bannakaffalatta can deal with hosts. Bannakaffalatta cyborg. Bannakaffalatta zap hosts but need to recharge.”

The Doctor looked at him with pride. “Perfect! Astrid, where's the power points?”

“Under the comms.”

“Good, make sure you’re charged up before you go, alright, Bannakaffalatta?”

“Yes, sir.” He walked over to the comm unit and found a plug beneath it to charge himself as much as he could.

“You're talking as if you're not coming with us.” Astrid observed.

“There's something down on deck thirty-one. I'm going to find out what it is.”

“What if you meet a Host?” Astrid worried.

He shrugged off her concern, “Well, then I'll just have some fun.”

“Sounds like you do this kind of thing all the time.”

“Not by choice. All I do is travel. That's what I am. Just a traveler. Imagine it. No tax, no bills, no boss. Just the open sky.” His eyes glazed over picturing the happier travels, and his plan for when Rose wakes up.

Astrid tilted her head to one side, then the other, looking away from the Doctor, and choosing her words carefully. “I'm sort of unemployed now. I was thinking the blue box is kind of small, but I could squeeze in it, like a stowaway.” She paused. “If you and Rose would have me?”

“It's not always safe.” The Doctor warned.

“So, you could use another person helping you. I've got no one back on Sto. No family, just me. So what do you think? Can I come with you?” She waited nervously as he just looked at her before he finally smiled.

“Yeah, I'd like that. Yes. Rose and I actually talked about it briefly earlier.” Her smiled widened. The ship shook and the Doctor pulled out his communicator. “Mister Frame, you still with us?”

“It's the engines, sir. Final phase. There's nothing more I can do. We've got only eight minutes left.” Judging by how labored his voice was, the Doctor was surprised Frame was still functioning. It was time to move.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the support! I'm hoping to continue this story to at least The Parting of the Ways.
> 
> Not much will be different from now until the end of the episode, so this chapter will be kind of long to just finish it off.

Eight minutes left until the Titanic crashed into the Earth and killed everyone.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get there,” the Doctor assured Frame and the rest of his group.

“But the bridge is sealed off,” he argued, hopelessly.

“Yeah, yeah, working on it. I'll get there, Mister Frame, somehow. All charged up, Bannakaffalatta?” The cyborg nodded. “I’m trusting you all to look after Rose, and each other.” He bent down to Rose and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back before you wake up. I promise.” He lifted Rose onto the cleaning cart and left the group to make their way to reception.

“Be careful,” Astrid called to his retreating form.

He made his way to the galley and four hosts appeared in front of him. He grabbed a saucepan as a weapon and took a defensive stance. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Security protocol one. Do you hear me? One. One! Okay, that gives me three questions. Three questions to save my life, am I right?”

“Information. Correct.”

“No, that wasn't one of them. I didn't mean it. That's not fair. Can I start again?” He whined carelessly, dropping his defense.

“Information. No.”

“No! No, no, no, no. That wasn't a question either.” He ran his hand through his hair. He really didn’t have time for this. “Blimey. One question left. One question. So, you've been given orders to kill the survivors, but survivors must therefore be passengers or staff, but not me. I'm not a passenger. I'm not staff. Go on, scan me. You must have bio-records. No such person on board. I don't exist therefore you can't kill me. Therefore, I'm a stowaway, and stowaways should be arrested and taken to the nearest figure of authority. And I reckon the nearest figure of authority is on deck thirty-one. Final question. Am I right?” He waited.

“Information. Correct.”

He held up his hands in surrender, “Brilliant. Take me to your leader. I've always wanted to say that.” He laughed to himself, looking to the side before remembering Rose wasn’t there. Hopefully, she’d be safer with the others.

He followed the hosts through a few more corridors before stopping in a room, still on fire from the rock storm. He looked at the metal door in front of them and then at each of the hosts escorting them, “Wow. Now that is what you call a fixer upper. Come on then, Host with the most, this ultimate authority of yours. Who is it?” The hosts opened the doors, and he stepped inside. “Oh, that's clever. That's an omnistate impact chamber. Indestructible. You can survive anything in there. Sit through a supernova. Or a shipwreck. Only one person can have the power and the money to hide themselves on board like this and I should know, because-”

A large contraption rolled into his line of sight. Inside a glass dome with tubes was a familiar face with a golden tooth. “My name is Max.” He gold tooth glinted.

“It really does that.” The Doctor stared.

Max addressed the hosts, angrily. “Who the hell is this?”

“I'm the Doctor. Hello.” He greeted with a false cheer and genuine curiosity.

“Information. Stowaway.”

“Well.” The Doctor tilted his head and elongated the word.

“Kill him.”

He jumped back and threw up his hands, “Oh, no, no, no. Wait, but you can't. Not now. Come on, Max. You've given me so much good material like, how to get ahead in business. See? Head? Head in business? No?” The Doctor rambled, and Max watched him carefully.

“Oh, ho, ho, the office joker. I like a funny man. No one's been funny with me for years.” Max rolled closer.

“I can't think why.” The Doctor tilted his head back slightly and looked down at Max.

“A 176 years of running the company have taken their toll.”

“Yeah but, nice wheels.” He scratched behind his ear.

“No, a life support system, in a society that despises cyborgs. I've had to hide away for years, running the company by hologram.” He turned his attention to the hosts. “Host, situation report.”

“Information. Titanic is still in orbit.”

“Let me see. We should have crashed by now. What's gone wrong? The engines are still running! They should have stopped!” His eyes moved out of sync, looking all around, before scowling at the Doctor. Max rolled towards him, and the Doctor had to move to the side to avoid being pushed by Max’s cart. He walked next to Max up to the edge of the deck, and they looked down into the fiery engine.

“When they do, the Earth gets roasted. I don't understand. What's the Earth got to do with it?”

“This interview is terminated.” Max wheeled back into the room, turning his back on the Doctor.

“No. No, no, no, no, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.” The Doctor ran to block his path and threw his arms in the air again. “I can work it out. It's like a task. I'm your apprentice. Just watch me. So, business is failing, and you wreck the ship so that makes things even worse. Oh, yes! No. Yes. The business isn't failing, it's failed. Past tense.”

“My own board voted me out. Stabbed me in the back.” Max admitted, malice flooding his voice.

“If you had a back.” The Doctor replied quickly. He paused to think. “So, you scupper the ship, wipe out any survivors just in case anyone's rumbled you and the board find their shares halved in value. Oh, but that's not enough. No. Because if a Max Capricorn ship hits the Earth, it destroys an entire planet. Outrage back home. Scandal! The business is wiped out.”

“And the whole board thrown in jail for mass murder.” Max smirked.

“While you sit there, safe inside the impact chamber.” The Doctor’s face hardened, and he realized there were few options where Max made it out of this situation alive. He was burning through every chance the Doctor gave him, still too proud of his murderous plot. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to save Max. The Doctor didn’t want to think like that, but he could feel the choice coming. He needed to get back to Rose.

“I have men waiting to retrieve me from the ruins and enough off-world accounts to retire me to the beaches of Penhaxico Two, where the ladies, so I'm told, are very fond of metal.” The Doctor tried not to shutter at Max’s creepy grin, opting for shaking his head instead.

His voice hardened, and the oncoming storm burned in his eyes. “So that's the plan. A retirement plan. Two thousand people on this ship, six billion underneath us, all of them slaughtered, and why?” Max lowered the corners of his lips in an exaggerated frown, prompting the Doctor to continue. “Because Max Capricorn is a loser.” The Doctor narrowed his eyes, looking down at Max.

“I never lose.”

“You can't even sink the Titanic.” The Doctor challenged.

The smile fell from the Doctor’s face as Max let out a proud chuckle. “Oh, but I can, Doctor. I can cancel the engines from here.” Max exclaimed, and the ship rocked as the engines stopped.

“You can't do this!” The Doctor shouted, fear and anger bleeding through. Time was short enough as it was.

“Host, hold him.” A host appeared at each arm. “Not so clever now, Doctor. A shame we couldn't work together. You're rather good. All that banter yet not a word wasted. Time for me to retire. The Titanic is falling. The sky will burn. Let the Christmas inferno commence. Oh. Oh, Host. Kill him.”

The Doctor started at Astrid’s voice, “Mister Capricorn!” The two men turned to see Astrid sitting in a forklift driving towards Max. “I resign.”

“Astrid, don't!” She ignored him, pushing forward, and sliding the forks under Max’s life support. A host threw its halo to try to stop her. It bounced off of Astrid’s cab.

“He's cut the brake line!” The Doctor screamed at her, begging her to stop, to save herself. She looked over at him, steeled her nerves, and lifting Capricorn’s life support off the ground. She drove them through the guard rail and over the edge into the engines. “Astrid!” He yelled after her. The hosts released him, having no more use of him, and he ran to the edge, hopelessly watching her fall.

The Doctor pushed her scared face to the back of his mind as the computer spoke overhead, “Titanic falling. Voyage terminated. Voyage terminated.” The Doctor ran back to the hosts, debris showering him with every step. He snapped his fingers, and the two hosts that had held him hostage took his arms again, flying through the air and smashing their way through to the bridge.

“Deadlock broken,” the computer announced.

“Ah, Midshipman Frame. At last.” The Doctor greeted, shook himself off and moved to the controls. Out of the corner of his eye, he looked at the young man that had been keeping them alive and grimaced. They would need to deal with his injury soon.

“Er, but, but the host.” Frame rose to his feet and joined the Doctor near the controls.

“Controller dead, they divert to the next highest authority, and that's me.” He explained distractedly, as the screens flashed ‘ENGINE FAILURE.’

“There's nothing we can do. There's no power. The ship's going to fall.”

“Titanic falling.” The computer announced. The Doctor ignored it, switching between different controls.

“What's your first name?” He asked while focused on the wheel.

“Alonso.” The Doctor turned his head to stare at him.

“Titanic falling.” The computer was once again ignored.

“You're kidding me.” The Doctor’s mouth stayed open.

“What?” Alonso had no idea what to do with the madman currently trying to save his life and the planet below. He wasn’t sure if it was worth it to try and understand him.

“That's something else I've always wanted to say. Allons-y, Alonso. Whoa!” The spun the ship’s wheel hard, jostling them and causing more fires.

Alarms rang out as the ship entered Earth’s atmosphere. The Doctor bared his clenched teeth and clung to the wheel as Alonso searched for a safe hold. The ship started to burn hotter the farther it travelled through the atmosphere. He fought to keep the ship as steady as he could. When they started to pass through the clouds, the Doctor kicked on a scanner showing their impact zone. He groaned, of course it would be the one place he knew there would be people. He grabbed the phone and dialed.

“Oh. Hello, yes. Could you get me Buckingham Palace?” He shouted over the alarms and general chaos. He fought with the secretary, desperately trying to get him to see the urgency in his call. “Listen to me! Security code seven seven one. Now get out of there!” The secretary slammed the phone down on the table rather than the hook. The Doctor sighed in relief as the secretary finally started evacuating the palace.

The Doctor pulled up on the wheel, still trying to avoid the collision when the computer finally announced that the engines had reactivated. Alonso was thrown against the wall and slid down to the floor. Alonso and the Doctor cheered, and Alonso looked up to him fascinated.

“Used the heat of re-entry to fire up the secondary storm drive.” He explained, sliding against the wall to sit next to Alonso. Then he gloated, “Unsinkable, that's me.”

“We made it.” Alonso gasped in disbelief.

The Doctor’s victorious mood soured. “Not all of us.” Suddenly, he threw himself up off the floor, shouting, “Teleport! She was wearing a teleport bracelet.”

He ran back to the reception hall. “Mr. Copper, the sonic.” He held out his hand, and Mr. Copper threw him the sonic. He took a deep breath as he saw Rose, lying on a couch with Foon and Morvin standing protectively over her. Well, he had kept his promise to be back before she woke. He turned his focus back to the teleport system. “Mister Copper, the teleports, have they got emergency settings?”

He called back, unsure of the Doctor’s urgency. “I don't know. They should have.”

“She fell, Mister Copper. She fell. What's the emergency code?”

“Er, let me see.” Mr. Copper moved to the controls.

Frame finally caught up to the Doctor. “What the hell are you doing?”

“We can bring her back.” His tone left no room for argument as he ran his sonic over the teleport system.

Mr. Copper turned back to Frame to offer more of an explanation. “If a passenger has an accident on shore leave and they're still wearing their teleport, their molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis, so if we can just trigger the shift.

The Doctor hit just a couple more buttons, and a blue image of Astrid appeared. “There!” He shouted, turning to look at her.

“I'm falling.” Her voice was even, but fear leaked through.

The Doctor turned back to the controls, desperate for this plan to work. “Only halfway there. Come on.” He pleaded for to the universe to let him save one more life today. Astrid deserved a better chance at seeing the stars than this, and he didn’t want to explain to Rose the lack of a companion when she woke up.

“I keep falling.”

The Doctor fiddled with more wires. “Feed back the molecule grid. Boost it with the restoration matrix.” The teleportation machine sparked and fizzled, refusing to cooperate. “No, no, no, no, no! Need more phase containment.” He yelled as he waved away the smoke.

“Doctor.” Mr. Copper called.

The Doctor kept working. “No! If I can just link up the surface suspension.”

“Doctor, she's gone.” Mr. Copper pleaded.

“I just need to override the safety. I can do this. I can do it.” He forced his hand deeper into the machine, as the others stared at him in pity, even Slade had the decency to bow his head in respect.

Mr. Copper rested his hand on his shoulder, pulling his attention away from the teleport. “Doctor, let her go.”

“I can do anything!” He shouted, standing and kicking the teleport, but then he heard Rose whimper.

Her thoughts projected to him. _Everything has its time, and everything dies. We are not gods._

“Stop me falling.” Astrid’s voice was nearly empty, even as she begged for release.

“There's not enough left. The system was too badly damaged. She's just atoms, Doctor. An echo with the ghost of consciousness. She's stardust.” Copper told him, pleading with him a final time to let her go.

“Astrid Peth, citizen of Sto. The woman who looked at the stars and dreamt of travelling. Now you can travel forever.” He pointed the sonic to the window, opening it. What was left of Astrid turned to light and floated out of the window. “You're not falling, Astrid, you're flying.”

Frame left and returned to the bridge. The Doctor turned his head away from the window and made his way over to the couch where Rose laid, still fast asleep. He sat on the floor beside her. Morvin and Foon got up and joined Mr. Copper, Bannakaffalatta, and Rickston to give the Doctor some space. Rose rolled slightly and her hand dropped off the couch. The Doctor kissed the back of her hand then laced his fingers through hers.

Frame returned and addressed everyone, “The engines have stabilized. We're holding steady till we get help, and I've sent the SOS. A rescue ship should be here within twenty minutes, and they're digging out the records on Max Capricorn. It should be quite a story.”

Copper sighed and shook his head. “They'll want to talk to all of us, I suppose.”

“I'd have thought so, yeah.” Frame nodded, unaware of why Copper’s distress.

“I think one or two inconvenient truths might come to light. Still, it's my own fault, and ten years in jail is better than dying.” He told the Doctor.

Rose’s eyes clenched like she was in pain for a moment, and Slade cleared his throat, “Ah, that’s better.” He said testing his returned voice. “Doctor, I never said thank you.” He leaned down to give the Doctor an awkward one-sided hug. “The funny thing is, I said Max Capricorn was falling apart. Just before the crash, I sold all my shares, transferred them to his rivals. It's made me rich. What do you think of that?” His vone rang, and he answered immediately. “Salvain. Those shares. I want them triple bonded and locked.” He walked away from the group.

“Of all the people to survive, he's not the one you would have chosen, is he?” Mr. Copper blinked rapidly, trying to find the right words to comfort the ancient man beside him, “But if you could choose, Doctor, if you decide who lives and who dies, that would make you a monster.”

The Doctor stood and walked back over to the teleports, grabbing three. He returned to his spot by Rose. “Mister Copper, I think you deserve one of these.” He handed a surprised Mister Copper a teleport bracelet before slipping one on Rose’s wrist and finally placing one on himself. He scooped Rose up in his arms. Frame stood and saluted him, Foon and Morvin waved, and Morvin flipped the teleport on.

They landed just a few feet from the TARDIS in a snowy field.

“So, Great Britain is part of Europey, and just across the British Channel, you've got Great France and Great Germany.” Mr. Copper questioned as they walked to the ship.

“No, no, it's just, it's just France and Germany. Only Britain is Great.” The Doctor, while trying to shield Rose from the wind and snow, turned and walked backwards to address Mr. Copper.

“Oh, and they're all at war with the continent of Ham Erica.”

“No. Well, not yet. Er, could argue that one.” They reached the TARDIS, and the Doctor struggled to adjust Rose in his arms to reach his key. “There she is. Survive anything.” He was saved from that little dance when the TARDIS door opened. “Jack? Why are you here?”

“Rose calls, I answer. What happened to her?” Jack moved to take her, but the Doctor held fast and pushed past him.

He set her down on the console chair before answering him. “Bad Wolf drained her. She’s just asleep.”

Mr. Copper stood at the door still, staring inside in wonder. “It’s bigger on the inside.” The Doctor smiled.

“Who’s this?” Jack pointed to Mr. Copper.

“Ah, right, Jack, Mister Copper. Mister Copper, Jack. Think you could get him set up here, Jack?”

“Alien or out of time?”

“Alien.”

“Yeah,” Jack walked over to Rose and kissed her forehead. “Take care of her.”

“Always.”

Mr. Copper turned to the Doctor. “So, I, I suppose you'll be off.”

“The open sky.” He answered, looking over at Rose. “No interfering. I don't want any trouble. Just, just have a nice life.”

“Oh, Doctor, I will made you proud.” Jack took Mr. Copper by the shoulders and led him out of the TARDIS, waving goodbye to the Doctor.

“Merry Christmas, Jack, Mister Copper.”

“Merry Christmas,” they answered. Jack closed the door behind them, and the Doctor piloted the TARDIS into the vortex as carefully as he could.

Then he scooped Rose back into his arms and carried her to her room. He tucked her into bed and sat in the chair on the other side of her room, but the moment she stirred in her sleep he was back at her side. Her hand opened and closed as if looking for his, and he took the hint to crawl into bed beside her, wrapping one arm over her side and grabbing her hand.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks you for the comments and kudos!  
> Once again, sorry for the bad science.

The Doctor laid next to Rose for eight hours, but the worry he had been holding back grew every minute. She hadn’t slept more than four hours at a time since she had gotten back. He believed in her, but he had seen Bad Wolf nearly kill Rose before.

When she developed a fever, he couldn’t stop himself; he carried her over to med bay to scan her head. He looked over at the monitor flashing that her results were in from the last time he freaked out. The Doctor made it to the monitor, before convincing himself that Rose should be fully with him when they looked at those. She would be furious with him, and that would not be a good thing for her to wake up to. He shuddered as he imagined her reaction. _No, better to wait._ Still, he struggled to pull himself away from the monitor and back to the new tests.

He paced by Rose’s bed while he waited. He hoped the TARDIS would be more willing to share these results than she had been about the other tests. He sat down in a chair by the bed and held her hand, trying to settle down and wait patiently by her side. He telepathically begged the TARDIS to explain, to give him something.

The Doctor felt the TARDIS sigh and another monitor beeped. It showed Rose’s brain scan, it lit up like a Christmas tree. The TARDIS pulled up a map and a timer. The map pointed to the TARDIS’s zero room, and the Doctor held his face in his hands. He really should have thought of that; Rose’s mind had been pushed past its limit, and the zero room was perfect for neurological healing.

The timer bothered the Doctor more. If the Doctor understood it correctly, it was telling him that Rose would need to sleep for just over three more days. Part of him was glad for the reassurance that she would wake up, while the rest of him worried over all the damage that could be caused in that time and all the possible damage that had made this coma necessary.

He turned back to the monitor that promised the results of how Rose’s biology had changed already, the TARDIS shut off all of the monitors, refusing to let him dig further. He would have to wait three more days without the answers he sought, and he wouldn’t have Rose to help him through it. He slid down to floor staring at Rose’s unconscious form.

He definitely needed something else to focus on.

The Doctor stood and placed a kiss on her head and walked to the console room. As much as he hated what was happening to her, he knew she’d be ok, and this was a great opportunity to do something she couldn’t be around for without having to explain to her why.

The Doctor ran to the console room and navigated out of the time vortex. He landed in a market on the planet Lonigista. They were known for their jewelry craftsmanship. He walked out of the TARDIS but immediately walked back in and grabbed a notebook and a pencil. He sat on the captain’s chair and started sketching. It had to be perfect. He couldn’t risk the designers misunderstanding his description. _Human rings usually have diamonds, right?_ The Doctor marked it down, but quickly erased it. _No, it should be something blue. Maybe Meridian Sapphire._ It was the closest stone to TARDIS blue that he knew of, and the jewelers of Lonigista should have plenty of cuts of it. He kept the design for the band itself fairly simple but drew out a few words in Gallifreyan for an inscription. _Run? Forever? My Rose? My Doctor?_

The Doctor sighed and shook his head. He _needed_ this to be perfect. This ring would never leave Rose’s finger again if he had anything to say about it. _Oh! That means the wedding band itself will have to work with it!_ He ripped the first draft out of the notebook and threw it on the floor. He stared at the page before scooping down and picking it up. He shoved it in his pocket. It wouldn’t be good to have Rose see the first attempt before he had a chance to pop the question. She already knew the proposal was coming; she should have some part of it be a surprise.

 _I should stop and ask Jackie, first._ He paused as he felt the ache in both his hearts. He _couldn’t_ ask Jackie. He couldn’t ask permission, advice, anything. The Doctor had always been so focused on Rose that he hadn’t thought about how losing Jackie would affect _him_. Now that he actually thought about it, it hurt. Badly. While he always claimed to hate domestics, he loved being able to drop in on Jackie whenever he wanted, and be welcomed with open arms, even if those arms usually came with a mostly unwelcomed kiss or a fully unwelcomed slap depending on his landing skills. He felt a tear slip down his cheek and quickly wiped it away. Jackie had lived a long, happy life and died peacefully surrounded by her family. He pushed down those feelings like he always did and returned his focus to the blank page.

It took twenty-seven more attempts before he was satisfied enough with his design to show it to the jewelers. He walked out of the TARDIS into an empty street. It was the middle of the night and all of the shops were closed. _Whoops,_ he walked back up to the TARDIS console and skipped forward a few hours and left again.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and walked over to the most reputable jewelry store. A native Lonigistian, tall, with maroon-ish skin and long black hair, signifying many years in his craft, greeted him.

“I’m guessing an engagement ring?” the jeweler asked.

“Well, um, uh, yes, actually. I have some sketches.” He held out the much notebook that was now much thinner than it used to be.

“So, you want an engagement ring that connects to the wedding ring?” The Doctor nodded in response. “That’s simple enough. Why don’t you come to the back with me, so we can look through this some more?”

He nodded again and followed the craftsman to a small table behind the main display case, without the other man ever looking away from his sketches.

“All these circular patterns, are these engraving ideas or do you want the band to be made from these shapes side by side?” The jeweler finally looked up to meet the Doctor’s eye.

“Uh, I was thinking engravings, but is it possible to use that as a band pattern?”

“It’s possible yes, but with combining the bands, it would either become very wide or the patterns would have to be very small. Depending on the length of your fiancée’s fingers, that could be perfectly fine or problematic.” He stood to grab a few sample rings.

One ring set had two rows of patterns, one for each ring, and the stones overlapped, creating the unified ring. The second set had one design that was only fully visible when both rings were worn together, and the third set showed the design of the bands very clearly, but the two rings together were definitely too wide to fit comfortably on Rose’s small fingers. “Do any of these stand out to you or do you want to stick with the engravings?”

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck then pulled at his earlobe, staring at the options before him. He looked up hesitantly at the craftsman. “I think I like this one.” He picked up the second ring set he looked at. It was the most unified.

“Perfect!” He exclaimed as he sat opposite the Doctor once more. “Is there any particular order these circle patterns should follow?”

The Doctor nodded and flipped the notebook to a fresh piece of paper where he wrote in Gallifreyan: Run, Forever, I love you, My Rose, Your Doctor, then as an afterthought, he wrote his real name. She’d learn it when the pattern was completed by the wedding ring anyway.

“That looks great.” He flipped back to the previous page. “It says here you want a Meridian Diamond. Is there a specific cut you want?” The Doctor stared at him blankly. “Ok,” the jeweler pulled a small box from a shelf nearby and showed its contents to the Doctor. “These are the different cuts we offer. The top row catches the most light, the second row catches a little less, and the third row is a bit simpler.” Each row showcases several different shapes. The Doctor picked up the sample stone from the top row shaped similarly to an oval but with pointed ends. “An excellent choice, sir.” The man smiled confidently. He asked the Doctor several more questions about the ring that the Doctor had not anticipated. “I should have your ring ready for you in seven days. Thank you for you patronage.” He bowed as he walked the Doctor back to the door.

He walked back to the TARDIS and checked on Rose again. The TARDIS hummed in his mind, trying to set him at ease, but it just annoyed him. Why wouldn’t the TARDIS just give them some straight answers? Rose still slept peacefully, dreaming of their time on the planet Barcelona. _Maybe I could take her there again to ask. Or maybe, Wanii._ She loved the large pterodactyl looking birds there, and that was the first place she had promised him forever. _Maybe I’ll propose on Wanii, and take her to that resort on Barcelona after._ He nodded to himself then immediately shook his head. He had no idea what he was doing, and he could really use some help.

The Doctor kissed Rose’s head and walked back out to the console room. He jumped forward in time by a week and picked up the ring. It was as beautiful as he had imagined, and he thanked the jeweler profusely, tipping him well. When he got back to the TARDIS, he though about who he could talk to about his proposal plan. His first thought was Martha, but some instinct told him he should wait for her to call him. It might be too soon for her. Maybe Jack? He would always be willing to help Rose, but he would probably be less help and more curious about the night after. _Sarah Jane_. Rose loved Sarah Jane and she had offered to help Rose before.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support!

When he landed outside of Sarah Jane’s home, he wasn’t expecting her to run to him and wrap him in a tight hug. He wasn’t going to deny it though; he threw his arms around her.

“Sarah Jane!”

“Doctor,” she pulled away just enough to look into his eyes. “How are you doing? Really? I was sorry to hear about Rose.”

He furrowed his eyebrows as Sarah Jane led him into her home and sat him down at the table for tea.

“What do you mean ‘sorry to hear about Rose?’ Sorry to hear what?” He took the cup of tea from her.

“I went investigating, after Canary Wharf. Daleks and cybermen, I had to know what happened, but I saw the list of the dead; Rose and Mickey…” She trailed off, watching him carefully, expecting him to shut the conversation down like he always did when things got hard.

Instead, his face brightened. “No, no, they were pulled into a parallel world, and they were trapped there for a while, but Rose is in the TARDIS right now, asleep, and apparently we’ll run into Mickey sometime later.”

His wince when he said that Rose was asleep didn’t go unnoticed. “All these years, and it still bothers you that humans need to sleep.” She shook her head.

The Doctor wet his lips before speaking, “Rose isn’t entirely human anymore.” He spoke into his cup.

“Sorry, what was that?” She leaned closer to him.

“Rose isn’t entirely human anymore. She doesn’t age, and she rarely sleeps, but the power that changed her woke up for a bit and put her to sleep.” He spoke quickly, and Sarah Jane’s eyes widened with every word.

“Is she in danger from that power?”

He shook his head, vehemently, “No, not anymore.”

Sarah Jane’s smile beamed from ear to ear. “No watching her wither and die then? No more excuses?”

“That’s actually part of why I came here.”

“Oh?” She leaned into him.

He reached into his pocket and grabbed two black velvet boxes, opening them both and showing both halves to her before putting them together.

“They’re beautiful!” Sarah Jane covered her mouth with her hand. There once was a time when she would have wanted those rings to be for her, but she understood that she wasn’t what the Doctor needed. He and Rose would be perfect together. They needed each other, and Sarah Jane felt lucky to be included even in this small way.

“Yeah, I’m struggling with how to propose, though. I had a few ideas.” The Doctor proceeded to spend the next half hour going through restaurants and planets that had any significance to him and Rose.

When he finally stopped to breathe, Sarah Jane blinked at him a couple times. “Or, you could share a bit more of yourself with her while you propose and take her to the red room.” The Doctor stared at her in surprise. “Gallifrey is beautiful, and if you’re going to bond with her telepathically, she’s going to learn more about it anyway. You might as well show her. It would be a beautiful place to propose.”

The Doctor nodded slowly, but it gained speed as he began to smile, picturing her face as she looked around the TARDIS’s rendering of Gallifrey before… It would be perfect. “You’re absolutely right. Thank you!” He stood up and turned in a circle before walking over to her and planting a kiss on her forehead.

“I had better be invited to the wedding!” Sarah Jane called after him as she followed him to the door. “Don’t you dare forget me!” The Doctor ran into the TARDIS but walked back out when he saw a teenage looking boy walked onto the property and greeted Sarah Jane with a hug.

“Who’s this?” he asked, his excited energy completely replaced by curiosity.

“This is my son, Luke.” She smiled down at the boy, love and pride filling her eyes. She looked back up at the Doctor, seeing his tilted head and furrowed brows. “I adopted him.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” He nodded.

“Is that the Doctor?” The boy looked him up and down.

“Yes, you take good care of your mom, alright?” The Doctor walked over to them and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Cause I know she takes good care of you.”

Luke grinned. “Of course.”

“I’ll see you soon. Very soon, I hope.” The Doctor turned to walk back to the TARDIS.

“I’m really happy for you! Treat her well!” She called to his back.

He walked into the TARDIS and watched from the monitor as Sarah Jane and her son walked into their house. Luke asked her lots of questions. There were times when he really missed Sarah Jane, and he was glad to be able to see her today and see how happy she is. Her life really had turned out great without him. _Maybe Rose had a point about us visiting old companions._

He had everything planned out, now came the waiting. He still had two days to wait until Rose woke up. _Why didn’t I let Sarah Jane distract me longer?_ He thought bitterly. The Doctor grabbed some tools and felt the TARDIS sigh as he climbed under the console to do some maintenance.

For the next two days, he performed unnecessary maintenance on the TARDIS, occasionally remembered to eat, and brought Rose somewhere around thirty cups of tea that she couldn’t drink. He tried to bring her an IV with fluids and nutrients, but the TARDIS shocked him every time he tried to set it up. Eventually, he took the hint, but he still growled at the TARDIS for not letting him do something to take care of her. The TARDIS telepathically nudged him and told him to check her temperature again, and he was relieved to find that her fever had broken.

When the timer finally ticked down to its final few minutes, he made Rose yet another cup of tea and knelt beside her in the zero room.

“Doctor?” She looked around in confusion and tried to sit up, but her muscles were sore from disuse.

“I’m here. Lay back.” She obeyed, and he held her face in his hands and kissed her desperately. “I’ve missed you.” He kissed her again, and she wrapped her arms around his back as he climbed onto the bed beside her.

“How long was I out?” She asked when the Doctor finally pulled away to let her breathe. He passed her the cup of tea, which she took gratefully.

“About three days.” She could see the weight of those three days in his eyes, but it wasn’t as heavy as she would have expected. Rose felt her heart soar at the idea of him coming to trust that she wouldn’t be leaving him. “Your test results were ready a few days ago.”

“And?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“And I knew you’d be mad if I looked without you.” He replied glumly, but his smile returned when she looked at him proudly.

“You waited three days?” She raised her eyebrows. “You’ve been desperate for those results.”

“Yes,” he looked at her seriously, “but could the waiting end now, or do you need more time to recover?”

“It’s alright. You’ve waited long enough.” Maybe Rose didn’t need to worry about the results making him pull away after all. 

The Doctor scooped Rose into his arms, and Rose immediately protested claiming she could walk on her own. Reluctantly, he set her down, keeping a tight grip on her hand, which she returned. They walked to the med bay slowly; the Doctor kept looking over at Rose, making sure that she wasn’t doing too much too fast, but the tea seemed to have given her some energy. Her muscles were still stiff as boards, but he could give her a pill for that, or they could just keep moving until her joints got used to it again. That might be more fun.

They reached med bay and the Doctor gestured for her to sit on the stool while he pulled up her results. The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he looked at the tests he had run on her blood samples, specifically her DNA.

“Are you going to explain at any point?” Rose asked after a couple of minutes.

“Rose Tyler, you truly are impossible, you know that?” He looked back at her. “You DNA has similarities to time lords, humans, TARDISes, and somehow slightly similar to the Eternals.”

“Eternals?”

“Extremely powerful transcendental beings,” the Doctor grimaced. “They weren’t the nicest race, but those similarities are probably where a decent amount of Bad Wolf’s power comes from. The time vortex no longer affects you like it couldn’t affect them.”

Rose paused and shook her head, unsure of what to do with that information, but then she laughed a little, drawing the Doctor’s attention. “Martha was partially right, though.” The Doctor looked at her in confusion. “She guessed that I might be part TARDIS because of how I became like this.”

The Doctor’s mouth formed an ‘O’ as he nodded slightly, remembering that conversation. It had only been a few days ago, but in his defense his mind had been a bit busy.

“You haven’t eaten in three days. Can I take you out to dinner?”

“That would be lovely.” She smiled with her tongue between her cheeks, and he leaned down to pull her tongue into his mouth. Rose wrapped her arms around his shoulders, but they pulled apart when her stomach growled.

“Let’s go.” He led her to the console room, and they piloted the TARDIS to one of their favorite restaurants.

“You get us a table while I get a bit more dressed up?” Rose suggested already walking towards the wardrobe room. He nodded and walked out of the TARDIS. As soon as the door shut behind him, he checked which ring was in which box, so he could be sure he proposed with the correct ring. Then he did as he was told and got a table for them. The hostess told him it would take about twenty minutes for their table to be ready. After eighteen minutes, Rose joined him, and he didn’t bother trying to hide his attraction as he looked her up and down.

“Like what you see?” She teased.

“Always,” the Doctor rested his forehead against hers. “I’m glad you’re finally awake.”

Rose thought about asking him what happened with the Titanic, but she had a hazy recollection of Astrid dying, and decided that was likely considering she hadn’t seen Astrid on the TARDIS. As the hostess guided them back to their table, she asked what she thought would be a safer question.

“So, what happened last Christmas with the star and draining the Thames?” 

The Doctor laughed and began telling her the story. She flinched a little at the story of how he met Donna; they clearly didn’t get the best start, but Rose found she liked Donna already and wondered if she’d ever get to meet her.

He paused his story while they ordered and tried to ignore the waiter’s curiosity about their conversation. They were grateful the man didn’t ask.

The Doctor’s eyes grew darker as the end of the story approached. He hadn’t been able to convince the Empress of the Racnoss to choose a peaceful path, and he had gone too far, nearly letting Donna and himself drown because of his own pain. Rose scooted closer to him in their booth, and he leaned into her touch.

 _I’m here now._ She reminded him telepathically.

The Doctor smiled, leaning down to press his lips to hers, and tried to shield her from his thoughts about how soon their telepathic bond would be strengthened.

Finally, they finished dinner and made their way back to the TARDIS. Rose noticed the Doctor’s hands shaking and constantly digging in his pockets. She watched him carefully.

“Take a walk with me?” He held his arm out to her, and she looped her arm through his. They walked though corridor after corridor and eventually found themselves in a part of the TARDIS that Rose had never explored before. They stopped in front of a red door. The Doctor took a deep breath, and Rose caressed his cheek turning to face him.

“Is everything alright, Doctor?”

“Yes,” he smiled at her and pushed the door open. “Everything is perfect.” He led her into a room that looked like a new planet.

Red sand covered her feet as she stepped inside. There were tall grasses not very far off, and enormous mountains rose up in the distance. The sky was bright orange and red like fire. Nestled in the mountains stood a city covered in a large dome. “It’s beautiful. What is this place?” Rose had a feeling she knew what this room reflected, but she wanted him to tell her.

“This is what Gallifrey, or, well, it’s a representation of what Gallifrey was.” He dipped his toe in the sand. “A bit of a memorial now, I guess.”

“It’s gorgeous,” she turned back to the Doctor grabbing both of his hands. “Thank you for showing me this!”

The Doctor watched her face as she once more turned to take in the beauty of his home planet. Rose rested her back against his chest, folding her arms to keep hold of both of his hands. She kept him as close as she could. She was so sincere and amazing that he felt his hearts melt. He released one of her hands reluctantly, but knowing he needed to reach the ring before he lost his nerve. He dug in his pocket once more and pulled out the larger of the two ring boxes.

Rose frowned a little as she felt him pull away from her back, and she turned to see him holding out a ring with a wide but wobbly smile.

“Rose Marion Tyler,” his voice was full of love and longing, and it brought tears to Rose’s eyes, “I love you, and I will love you through every regeneration. I will stand by you for every trial this universe throws our way. Wait, no,” Rose furrowed her eyebrows and leaned away. “I’m doing this wrong. Humans kneel.” Rose laughed as the Doctor got down on one knee. “Rose Tyler, will you marry me?”

“Yes!” She exclaimed, falling onto her knees to throw her arms around him. “I love you.” She spoke against his lips and felt him smile. They kissed until even the Doctor gasped for breath.

“Do you want the ring now?” The Doctor asked.

Rose nodded and held out her left hand. He slid the ring onto her finger, and she looked at it in amazement. “It’s beautiful. What’s the pattern on the band?”

“It’ll be completed by the wedding band. Thought I’d leave you in a little more suspense.” She rolled her eyes and climbed into his lap to kiss him again and again.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for supporting the story!

Still riding the high of their official engagement, Rose and the Doctor stopped off in London to pick up some milk. They walked to the store, Rose leaning on the Doctor’s arm, and the Doctor smiling down at her. Passersby looked at them with either amusement or disgust, hardly any in between, but they didn’t care. They were happy and nothing could bring them down. Not even when the Doctor noticed a commercial for a diet pill that didn’t seem right.

“Care to investigate?” The Doctor nudged his fiancée with his shoulder.

“Lead on.” She bumped him back with her hip.

They walked back to the TARDIS, so Rose could put on something more professional than a t-shirt. Then they took a cab to the building holding Adipose Industries and walked around to the back door. The Doctor pulled out his sonic and opened the door. They slipped into the hallway as silently as they could, but then walked down the hall with confidence, walking a professional distance apart.

The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and flashed it at a guard, “John Smith and Rose Tyler, health and safety.” The guard nodded at and let them pass.

“At some point I’m gonna want one of those, you know.” Rose teased.

“Hmm, I think your birthday is coming up.” He smiled at her.

She smiled back, but then looked at him thoughtfully, “Is it?”

“According to my time yes, but I’m not sure about yours.”

“We can go with your timeline. It’s easier for you to keep track anyway, Time Lord.” She whispered as they entered a more populated area of the office. They walked through the cubicles and found themselves in a projection room where they saw a woman giving a presentation on the Adipose pill.

“Adipose Industries, the twenty first century way to lose weight. No exercise, no diet, no pain. Just lifelong freedom from fat. The Holy Grail of the modern age. And here it is. You just take one capsule. One capsule, once a day for three weeks, and the fat, as they say.” The woman on stage spoke smoothly and confidently, perhaps with a bit of a smirk, but Rose found it hard to tell from the projection room. The presenter directed the audience’s attention to a film playing behind her.

“The fat just walks away.” The narrator on the video spoke, and Rose decided the woman was smirking as if the catch phrase was cleverer than it seemed.

A woman in the audience stood and addressed the presenter, “Excuse me, Miss Foster. If I could? I'm Penny Carter, science correspondent for The Observer. There are a thousand diet pills on the market, a thousand con men stealing people's money. How do we know the fat isn't going straight into your bank account?”

“Oh, Penny, if cynicism burnt up calories, we'd all be as thin as rakes.” She spoke down to the woman, and Rose felt her anger rising on the woman’s behalf. “But if you want the science, I can oblige.” She hit the play button and the video presentation continued.

The narrator spoke “Adipose Industries. The Adipose capsule is composed of a synthesized mobilizing lipase, bound to a large protein molecule.” It continued, and the Doctor had his eyes glued to the presentation. Rose, however, was a bit lost in science-speak still, though not as badly as when she was nineteen, but she didn’t think she’d be able to do much good by listening in. When a guard walked in, wondering what they were doing she took the psychic paper from him and showed the guard.

“Health and safety.” He furrowed his brows at her. “We’re very thorough.” The guard rolled his eyes but walked away.

When the presentation was over, the Doctor and Rose made their way back to the cubicles they had passed through earlier. They walked over to a woman in a cubicle who was making cold calls, trying to sell more pills. The Doctor introduced them as health and safety. When she mentioned that they were giving out necklaces to every client, the Doctor grabbed one claiming they needed to test it. Rose grabbed another just in case.

The woman finally ended her call and turned to address them. “Sorry about that. How can I help you? Health and safety you said?”

“Yes,” Rose smiled at her. “Could we get a list of your clients please?”

“I suppose so,” the woman answered and pulled up a company file.

“That's the printer there?” The Doctor looked over the cubicle wall.

“By the plant, yeah.”

“Brilliant.” He ducked back into the cubicle.

She typed up a few things while the Doctor asked, “Has it got paper?” The Doctor stuck his head back over the cubicle wall, and Rose laughed picturing a game of whack-a-mole.

“Yeah, Jimbo keeps it stocked.” She answered.

The uptight woman from the presentation walked in and addressed the room. “Excuse me, everyone, if I could have your attention.” The workers all stood to show their respect and attention. “On average, you're each selling forty Adipose packs per day. It's not enough. I want one hundred sales per person per day. And if not, you'll be replaced. Because if anyone's good in trimming the fat, it's me. Now. Back to it.” Rose grimaced as Miss Foster left, and the workers returned to their seats.

“Charmin woman.” Rose whispered under her breath, and the woman they were working with chuckled.

“Anyway,” the Doctor tried to redirect their attention. “if you could print that off. Thanks.” The Doctor stood up again, looking over at the printer, and sat down again. The young woman handed him a piece of paper. “Thanks, then. Oh, what's that?”

“My telephone number.”

The Doctor stared at her blankly, “What for?” Rose bit back a laugh.

“Health and Safety. You be health, I'll be safety.” Rose’s eyes widened at her forwardness. The Doctor looked over at her as if begging for help, and the young woman continued checking him out.

“Uh, um, uh…” the Doctor stuttered.

“He’s married.” Rose said and walked over to the printer.

“Oh, sorry.” The young woman took the paper with her phone number back, blushing profusely.

At the printer, a redheaded woman was collecting the recently printed papers. “Oh, um, sorry. I just printed something too. Could I check?”

The woman stopped. “Oh, yes, I was just expecting a long list to be printed.” They looked through the papers and there were two copies of the same list.

“Oh, looks like we’re here for the same thing.” Rose tried to give the woman her most trustworthy smile. “What are you looking through the client base for?”

“Oh, health and safety questions. Can never be too thorough, right?” The woman smiled, but she seemed nervous, as if she didn’t like how many questions she was asking.

“Right, I’ll let you get on your way then. Thanks for stopping. My partner might have died if he had to ask for the list again. He never understands when people are flirting with him.” She laughed, and the red head walked away. Rose had a feeling that would not be the last time they ran into each other. There was no way that she was actually health and safety, which meant she must be investigating Adipose too. This was turning into a fun trip.

She caught up with the Doctor by the back door they came in through, and they hailed another cab.

“Where to?” The cabbie called, and the Doctor read off a random address from the list Rose handed him.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support!

They pulled up to the home of Roger Davy and knocked on the door.

“Mister Roger Davey? I'm calling on behalf of Adipose Industries. Just need to ask you a few questions. I’m John Smith and this is Rose Tyler.”

Roger invited them in, and they sat in his front room.

“I've been on the pills for two weeks now. I've lost fourteen kilos.” Roger seemed surprised but mostly grateful for the success of the pill.

“That's the same amount every day?” The Doctor noted aloud.

“One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight. Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning.” Roger’s face turned into more of a scowl at that observation.

“What makes you say that?” Roes scrunched her eyebrows. “That’s pretty specific.”

Roger stood and paced a little. “That's when I get woken up. Might as well weigh myself at the same time. It’s driving me mad. Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot without fail, the burglar alarm goes off. I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes.”

“But with no burglars? Nothing else suspicious?” Rose asked.

Roger threw his hands in the air, “Nothing. I've given up looking.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes in thought. “Tell me, Roger. Have you got a cat flap?”

Roger nodded and showed them to the door with the cat flap. “It was here when I bought the house. I've never bothered with it, really. I'm not a cat person.”

“No, I've met cat people. You're nothing like them.” Rose nudged the Doctor while suppressing a smile, but she didn’t want Roger to start questioning them, and the questions about the cat flap already didn’t fall under the jurisdiction of the company they claimed to represent.

“Is that what it is, though? Cats getting inside the house?” Roger asked hopefully. It would be a rather simple solution if that was all it was.

“Well,” the Doctor tilted his head to the side, “thing about cat flaps is, they don't just let things in, they let things out as well.”

“Like what?” Roger stared at the Doctor, unsure of how to respond to the strange man.

The Doctor spoke mostly to Rose, but Roger heard, “The fat just walks away.” He turned his attention back to Roger while grabbing Rose’s hand and leading her toward the front door. “Well, thanks for your help. Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so.”

The contraption the Doctor had built to alert him to any weird activity in the area started beeping, and he glanced down at it worriedly. “Oh. Got to go. Sorry.” Rose apologized to Roger. “Thank you again, and good luck with the home alarm.”

Rose followed closely behind the Doctor as he attempted to chase the signal from his new gizmo. He performed some concussive maintenance. Then a suspicious looking van coming down the street nearly hitting the Doctor as he ran into the middle of the street, and his machine started beeping faster. They began to chase the van but lost it, and the signal, quickly. Rose was relieved to see a taxi pull down the street and waved it down.

“Well, I’m glad the trip out here ended up being worth it. The woman who hired me ran off with no warning.”

“Lucky us, I suppose.” The Doctor answered him. He gave the cabbie the grocery store they had parked near earlier, and they drove off.

When they finally made it home, the Doctor ran to a magnifying glass on the console and started inspecting the gold pendant he had taken from Adipose Industries. “Oh, fascinating. Seems to be a bio-flip digital stitch, specifically for separating out fat cells.” He told Rose.

After a few more hours of tinkering, during which they learned very little, the Doctor ran around the console, piloting them closer to the Adipose building. Daylight had returned, and they landed in the back alley. The Doctor used his sonic to fry the emergency fire exit, but no one came to investigate. They wound their way through a few hallways and into the basement, where they hid in a storage closet and waited for the workday to be over. The Doctor used his sonic to open the false wall at the back of the closet and tried to hack into the computer, but he didn’t like his chances.

They passed the time talking about what they could do for the wedding. Rose wanted to have a few guests, and the Doctor told her about his conversation with Sarah Jane, and how she’d need a plus one for her son. Rose was thrilled about the idea of Sarah Jane being a mom and desperately wanted to meet Luke.

“If you want your idiot ex-boyfriend there, it’ll probably have to wait until after this mysterious disaster Bad Wolf is prepping you for.” He rolled his eyes as he mentioned Mickey.

“Mickey is also my childhood best friend, and one of the closest people to family that I have here. Thank you very much.”

The Doctor’s gaze softened. “Does it bother you to get married without your family?”

Rose sighed heavily and paused before answering. “It does a little.” She answered honestly, leaning into the Doctor a bit more. He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arm around her a little tighter. “But it feels good to know that Bad Wolf showed her our future, so she would have seen the wedding. And I grew up knowing that I wouldn’t have my dad there to walk me down the aisle.” She laughed a little. “That hit me when I was about eight years old, and Mickey said he’d walk me down, even if it was him I was marrying. He’d give me away to himself. I bet he’d still be willing to do it. Do time lords even do that though?”

“A bonding ceremony does require someone to give the bride away, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a parent. He still could give you away.”

They moved the conversation to happier topics and reminisced about their earlier adventures until the Doctor told her that it was time to go. They started making their way up to the roof, and the Doctor climbed into a window washer’s cradle. He held his hand out to Rose, but she shook her head.

“No way.”

“They’re perfectly safe, Rose.” He pouted at her.

“Those things freak me out. There are other ways to find out what’s going on. I’m going to try to get into one of the computers downstairs.” She leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

“Not if I see you first.” He pushed the button and started going down the building, stopping when he saw an occupied office. Ducking out of sight, he pulled out a stethoscope to listen in.

“This is ridiculous.” The reporter from yesterday complained.

“Sit there.” Commanded Foster.

“I'm phoning my editor.”

“I said sit.”

 **“** You can't tie me up.” Penny yelled as two guards tied her to a chair. “What sort of a country do you think this is?”

Foster smiled. “Oh, it's a beautifully fat country. And believe me, I've travelled a long way to find obesity on this scale.”

“So, come on then, Miss Foster, those pills. What are they?”

“Well, you might just as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed. This” Foster held up a pill, “is the spark of life.”

Penny shook her head and scowled. “And what's that supposed to mean?

“Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them. That part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanizes it to form a body.”

“What do you mean, a body?”

“I am surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster. As in foster mother. And these are my children.” She opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a small pale creature.

Penny scrunched her face in disgust. “You're kidding me. What the hell is that?”

The Doctor poked his head up to get a look at the creature.

“Adipose.” Foster stood and walked around the desk to stand in front of Penny. “It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat.”

“But I don't understand.” Penny shook her head.

“From ordinary human people.” Foster smiled

The Doctor lost track of Penny and Miss Foster’s conversation when he looked around and saw Donna looking into the office through the door window.

“Donna?” He exaggerated the movements of his mouth.

“Doctor? Doctor!” She excitedly replied.

“But what? What? What?” His eyebrows rose.

“Oh my god!”

“But how?”

“It's me!” She pointed at her face enthusiastically.

“Yes, I can see that.” The Doctor mimed seeing her.

“Oh, this is brilliant.” Donna gave him two thumbs up.

“What the hell are you doing there?”

“I was looking for you.”

“What for?”

“I read it on the internet. Weird. Crept along. Heard them talking. Hid. You.”

The Doctor and Donna turned their heads slightly and noticed that Miss Foster was staring at them. “Are we interrupting you?” She asked sarcastically.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments and kudos!

“Run!” The Doctor yelled, pulling out his sonic.

“Get her.” Miss Foster commanded the guards. The Doctor pointed his sonic at the office door and trapped the guards in, giving Donna as much time as he could to escape. “And him.”

The Doctor hit the up button on the cradle and started moving toward the roof, speeding it up with the sonic. As soon as he reached the roof, he bounded down the stairs, nearly crashing into Donna. He threw his arms around her in a bone-crushing hug.

Donna spoke into his shoulder. “Oh, my God. I don't believe it.” She let go of the hug and inspected him. “You've even got the same suit! Don't you ever change?”

“Yeah, thanks, Donna. Not right now.” He said with less enthusiasm as he turned his attention back to the situation at hand. He just hoped Rose was faring better than them. He looked down and saw the guards weren’t much farther down the stairs. “Just like old times!” They turned and made their way back to the roof.

“You look happier than last time. What’s changed?”

“I got engaged a few nights ago.”

Donna pulled her head back a little in surprise. “How long has it been since you last saw me?”

“About a year. He replied distractedly.

 _There is no way he went from_ that _broken hearted to engaged in a year._ Donna stared at his back in confusion.

“How did you end up here?” The Doctor asked.

“Well, I thought, how do you find the Doctor? And then I just thought, look for trouble and then he'll turn up.” He closed the roof access door and locked it with his sonic. “So I looked everywhere. You name it. UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all. Like that stuff about the bees disappearing, I thought, I bet he's connected. Because the thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day. I mean, that's got to be a hoax.”

The Doctor half-listened to her as he messed with the window cradle. “What do you mean, the bees are disappearing?” He climbed back into the window cradle and Donna followed him onto the short staircase.

“I don't know. That's what it says on the internet. Well, on the same site, there was all these conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries and I thought, let's take a look.”

The Doctor pointed his sonic at the cradle’s controls. “In you get!” He called to Donna.

“What, in that thing?”

 _What is everyone’s problem with window cradles?_ “Yes, in that thing.”

“But if we go down in that, they'll just call us back up again.”

“No, no, no, because I've locked the controls with a sonic cage. I'm the only one that can control it. Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own, which is very unlikely.”

Miss Foster made her way onto the roof and looked down at them in the window cradle. “Oh. Oh, I don't think so.” She pulled out her own sonic and pointed it at the cradle too. Sparks shot out and the cradle dropped violently.

The Doctor desperately messed with the controls and got the cradle to stop, pointedly ignoring Donna’s face. _Maybe Donna and Rose had a point about the cradle._ Not that he would tell them that. “Hold on. Hold on. We can get in through the window.” He turned the sonic to the window and set it to cut through glass. “Can't get it open!”

“Well, smash it then!” Donna grabbed a tool from the floor and started pounding on the window without even making a crack. Above them Miss Foster used her sonic to start burning the cables. “She's cutting the cable.”

The cable snapped and Donna slipped to the edge. The Doctor just barely managed to catch himself. “Donna!” he yelled.

“Doctor!” She screamed back at him.

“Hold on!”

“I am! Doctor!”

 **“** And now, for the other one.” Miss Foster spoke form the roof, aiming her sonic at the other cable. The Doctor blasted it out of her hand with his own sonic. “Ow!” She scowled down at him. The Doctor caught her fallen sonic pen and put it between his teeth. He began climbing to another window.

 **“** I'm going to fall!” Donna yelled.

~.~

Rose sighed in frustration as she was blocked by yet another fire wall. She logged off the computer she was working on and moved to find a computer that might have some more access. She walked down the hallway, peeking into windows, looking for the nicest office she could find. At the end of the next hallway, she looked through a door riddled with bullet holes and saw a woman tied to a chair and a pair of legs hanging outside the far window. _Seems like a pretty good bet for answers. The Doctor must be having some fun._

“What the hell is going on?” Yelled the woman tied to the chair. Rose ran past her to open the window.

 **“** This is all your fault. I should've stayed at home.” The dangling woman yelled at someone above her. Rose grabbed her legs and she screamed. “Get off!”

“Would you rather fall?” Rose asked, noticing it was the woman from earlier. “Stop kicking! I’ve got you. Trust me.” The woman listened, and Rose manage to pull her in through the window. She poked her head out of the window to see the Doctor climbing through another window. “’Perfectly safe,’ you said. Get your stupid arse down here!”

“You like my bum.” He grumbled, then added, “I won't be a minute!” He climbed the rest of the way inside and started running down to meet them.

“Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?” Penny complained as the Doctor reached the office.

“And you call me jeopardy friendly?” Rose quirked her eyebrow at him.

“Better a window washer cradle than a barrage balloon.” He turned to Penny. “What are you, a journalist?” He asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, make it up.” He used his sonic to free her. “Now do yourself a favor. Get out.”

“I was right. It's always like this with you, innit?” Donna asked.

The Doctor laughed and grabbed Rose’s hand. “Oh, yes! And off we go.” They ran off, back to the main cubicle area. Once they got there, they ran into Miss Foster and her guards.

“Well, then. At last.” Miss Foster greeted.

The Doctor tried to push Rose behind him, but she scoffed and stood beside him, with Donna on his other side.

“Hello.” Donna replied.

“Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor.”

“And I'm Donna.”

“Rose.”

“Wait, seriously?” Donna looked over at the other woman, inspecting her. She noticed the ring on her left hand. _It must be the same Rose. They must have made up._

Miss Foster took off her glasses. “Partners in crime. And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology.”

The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out her sonic. “Oh, yes, I've still got your sonic pen. Nice. I like it. Sleek. It's kind of sleek.”

“Oh, it's definitely sleek.” Donna added.

“Yeah, and if you were to sign your real name, that would be?”

“Matron Cofelia of the Five Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class.”

“Bit of a mouthful, innit?” Rose stared the woman down.

The Doctor squeezed his fiancée’s hand. “A wet nurse, using humans as surrogates.” He explained to his companions.

“I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost.” Her voice lacked any emotion at all, and Rose scowled. Shouldn’t she care at least a little about her employers missing a planet?

“What do you mean lost? How do you lose a planet?” The Doctor took note of Rose’s glowing eyes. That question seemed important to Bad Wolf for some reason.

“Oh, politics are none of my concern. I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents.”

“No good parent or foster parent is that emotionless.” Rose took a step toward the woman, but the Doctor’s grip on her hand tightened, silently begging her to stay by his side.

“What, like an outer space super nanny?” Donna asked, looking away from Rose and back to Miss Foster.

Miss Foster continued to watch Rose. “Yes, if you like.”

“So. So those little things, they're, they're made out of fat, yeah, but that woman, Stacy Campbell, there was nothing left of her.” Donna talked with her hands, her voice becoming increasingly accusatory, and the Doctor turned his concerned look to her.

“Oh, in a crisis the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs. Makes them a little bit sick, poor things.”

Donna’s voice rose again. “What about poor Stacy?”

“Seeding a level five planet is against galactic law.” The Doctor took over.

“Are you threatening me?” Miss Foster challenged.

“I'm trying to help you, Matron. This is your one chance, because if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you.”

“I hardly think you can stop bullets.” Miss Foster gestured to her guards who raised their weapons and took aim.


	29. Chapter 29

The trio stared at the weapons pointed at them.

The Doctor threw both his arms out in front of Rose and Donna, then pulled out his screwdriver and Miss Foster’s sonic pen. “No, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. One more thing, before dying. Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?”

“No.” Miss Foster answered.

“Nor me. Let's find out.” He turned both devices on and directed them at each other, creating a horrible sound. Everyone but him threw their hands over their ears. Rose and Donna pushed at the Doctor, signifying that it was time to get a move on.

“Come on!” Donna yelled despite the ringing in her ears.

“I'm advancing the birth plan. We're going into premature labor.” Foster announced as they ran off.

The three of them ran back to the storage closet that the Doctor and Rose had hidden in earlier that day. He threw everything out of the closet.

“Well, that's one solution. Hide in a cupboard. I like it.” Rose laughed at Donna’s sarcasm.

“I've been hacking into this thing all day, because the matron's got a computer core running through the center of the building.” The door finally slid open. “Triple deadlocked. But now I've got this,” he held up Miss Foster’s sonic pen. “I can get into it.” He looked at the screen on the green pillar with concern. “She's wired up the whole building. We need a bit of privacy.” He grabbed two wires and held them together, creating an electrical pulse. “Just enough to stop them. Why's she wired up the tower block? What's it all for?”

Donna faced the Doctor, looking at him in concern. “How long were you alone?”

The Doctor glanced at her briefly. “Not long. Rose came back about six months ago, and before that, I had this friend. Martha she was called. Martha Jones. She was brilliant. She left, but she's fine, she's good.”

“Is she the same Rose?” Donna asked. “The one you lost?”

Rose smiled at the confirmation that he had told Donna about her too. “Yes, I am.”

“He never did tell me why you left.” Donna met Rose’s eyes.

“I didn’t leave by choice.” Donna nodded, prompting Rose to continue. “My family and I were trapped in a parallel world for a while. We built a machine, so I could get back, but then I found out that I could stay with my family for their whole lives and still have a full life with him, so it took me a while to get back.” Rose wasn’t sure why she went into so much detail with Donna, but she already felt pretty comfortable with her. She remembered the story the Doctor told her about meeting Donna, and how much the woman had done for him.

 _Donna sought him out. Did she change her mind?_ Rose smiled at the thought. It was interesting timing with their new engagement, but Rose would bring Donna along happily.

The Doctor looked over at Rose and saw that she was struggling a little with the topic. “I thought you were going to travel the world?” He turned the conversation back to Donna.

“Easier said than done. It's like I had that one day with you, and I was going to change. I was going to do so much.” She said dreamily. “Then I woke up the next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there. And I tried. I did try. I went to Egypt. I was going to go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and don't drink the water, and two weeks later you're back home. It's nothing like being with you. I must have been mad turning down that offer.”

“What offer?” The Doctor asked distractedly.

“To come with you.”

“Come with me?” His eyebrows knit together as he looked up at her.

“Oh yes, please.” She looked between him and Rose.

“Right.” The Doctor said hesitantly. He looked over at Rose.

A computerized voice interrupted their conversation before Rose could answer. “Inducer activated.”

“What's it doing now?” Donna asked.

“She's started the program.”

“For once, it’d be nice if that meant she stopped harvesting from people and started preaching body positivity.” The Doctor smiled at Rose briefly before his face turned cold and he explained.

“So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron's gone up to emergency pathogenesis.”

“And that's when they convert-” Donna started.

“Skeletons, organs, everything. A million people are going to die. Got to cancel the signal.” The Doctor explained. He grabbed the pendant he had analyzed earlier and took it apart. “This contains a primary signal. If I can switch it off, the fat goes back to being just fat.” He attached the pedant to the machine in front of him.

“Inducer increasing.” A computerized voice spoke.

“No, no, no, no, no. She's doubled it. I need. Haven't got time. It's too far. I can't override it. They're all gonna die!” He exclaimed.

“Ok, what can we do?” Rose asked at the same time as Donna.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Sorry, this is way beyond you. Got to double the base pulse, I can't.”

“Doctor, let us help.” Rose repeated.

“What do you need?” Donna asked.

“I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one. I can't save them.” He said defeatedly, before realizing both women had pulled out copies of the pendants. He grabbed Donna’s excitedly and took it apart, adding it to the machine. It finally shut down, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

But of course, nothing could ever be that simple for them. The loud boom of a ship entering Earth’s atmosphere sounded above them followed by an electronic buzzing signal, sounding closer by the second.

“What the hell was that?” Donna asked.

“The nursery.” He answered simply.

“Fine. When you say nursery, you don't mean a crèche in Notting Hill.” Donna said, with a calm that she didn’t feel.

“Nursery ship.” Rose stood, walking toward the door.

The computer lit up again. “Incoming signal.” The Doctor turned his attention back to the computer.

“Hadn't we better go and stop them?” Donna gestured towards Rose still standing in the doorway of the closet.

“Hang on. Instructions from the Adiposian First Family.” His eyes widened. _Should have known._ “She's wired up the tower block to convert it into a levitation post. Ooo. Oh. We're not the ones in trouble now. She is!”

“What are you going to do then? Blow them up?” Donna called as the Doctor and Rose started running.

Rose shook her head, “They're just children.”

“They can't help where they come from.” The Doctor finished.

“Oh, that makes a change from last time. Rose coming back did a lot of good.” They reached the roof.

“Yeah,” he admitted. Rose stroked his face and place a quick kiss on his cheek. Donna smiled at the affectionate way the Doctor looked at Rose.

“Martha did him a lot of good too.” Rose added.

“She did, yeah. Yeah. She did. She fancied me.” The Doctor admitted awkwardly, looking at Rose.

Donna laughed, “Mad Martha, that one. Blind Martha. Charity Martha. I'm waving at fat.” The Adipose children floated up toward the ship.

“When did you finally realize that, Doctor?” Rose teased.

The Doctor looked at her in surprise, but he quickly became resigned. _Of course, Rose knew before he did._ “She looked at me different after you came back, and you weren’t as affectionate in front of her.” Rose smiled her tongue in tooth grin. Her old dog could learn new tricks it seemed. The Doctor turned his attention back to the fat creatures floating around them. “Actually, as a diet plan, it sort of works. There she is!” He pointed at Miss Foster who was now floating at the same height of the roof, below all of the Adipose creatures. “Matron Cofelia, listen to me.” He begged.

“Oh, I don't think so, Doctor. And if I never see you again, it'll be too soon.” She spoke evenly.

“Oh, why does no one ever listen. I'm trying to help. Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?” He reached towards her desperately.

“What, so that you can arrest me?” She challenged.

“Just listen. I saw the Adiposian instructions. They know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice.”

Miss Foster smiled proudly, opening her arms to gesture at the creatures above her. “I'm far more than that. I'm nanny to all these children.”

“Exactly! Mum and Dad have got the kids now. They don't need the nanny anymore.” Miss Foster’s eyes widened at the Doctor’s explanation, but it was too late. The levitation beam shut off, dropping Miss Foster to the ground, screaming all the way. She died on impact and the ship flew away without further communication.

The Doctor ran his hands through his hair in frustration, and Rose appeared at his side to comfort him. “Let’s go, my love.”

The three of them left the Adipose building and walked towards the back alley. He threw away Miss Foster’s sonic pen on the way.

A traumatized Penny, once again tied to a chair, passed them yelling, “Oi, you three. You're just mad. Do you hear me? Mad! And I'm going to report you for madness.”

Donna watched her walk away. “You see, some people just can't take it.”

“No.” The Doctor agreed, and Rose laughed, more aware of Donna’s reasoning than he was.

Donna noticed Rose’s smile, and that was all she needed. “And some people can. So, then. Tardis! Come on.” She grabbed the Doctor and pulled him along. Rose watched, enjoying Donna’s boundless energy and excitement.

As they entered the alley where they had parked the TARDIS, Donna exclaimed, “That's my car! That is like destiny. And I've been ready for this.” She popped open the boot, and it was full of suitcases. “I packed ages ago, just in case. Because I thought, hot weather, cold weather, no weather. He goes anywhere. I've gotta be prepared.” She piled the Doctor’s arms full of suitcases, and he stood there not really reacting, completely unsure of how to react. Rose’s laughter only served to confuse him more.

“You've got a, a hatbox.” He finally said.

“Planet of the Hats, I'm ready.” Rose held her hand to her mouth. “I don't need injections, do I? You know, like when you go to Cambodia. Is there any of that? Because my friend Veena went to Bahrain, and she. You're not saying much.” Donna’s face fell, and Rose stepped closer to the two of them.

“No, it's just. It's a funny old life, in the Tardis.” The Doctor hesitated.

“You don't want me.” Donna said sadly, reaching to start unloading the Doctor.

The Doctor glanced over at Rose. “I'm not saying that. It’s just-”

Rose put a hand on his temple. _I like her._ He smiled down at Rose. _If you want her to come, which I know you do, invite her._

 _You’re really ok with this? We know somethings coming, and we’re just barely engaged…_ He reasoned. He had to be sure.

 _She’ll be able to handle it. She wants this life—she sought you out again, and she seems like she’ll ok if we need a little space sometimes. Plus, she’s human. She sleeps._ The Doctor’s smile widened, and he walked into the TARDIS, still carrying Donna’s bags.

Rose took Donna’s arm and led her into the TARDIS.

“What was that then?” Donna asked her with a sideways glance.

“Telepathy. The Doctor’s a touch telepath, and I’m a bit weird.”

“Huh, he never said, but I kind of assumed you were human.”

“I was born human. My life just got a little extra weird.”

“Oh, sorry. Was that insensitive?”

“No, actually Martha said almost the exact same thing when we met. I really don’t mind.”

Donna froze. “Car keys.”

“What?” The Doctor looked over at the women.

“I've still got my mum's car keys. I won't be a minute.” Donna ran out of the TARDIS and called her mum. Rose helped the Doctor unload all the bags Donna had piled on him.

Donna came back into the TARDIS a little out of breath. “Off we go, then.”

“Here it is. The Tardis. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.” The Doctor explained.

Donna rolled her eyes, further cementing Rose’s belief that they would get on well. “Oh, I know that bit. Although frankly, you could turn the heating up.” Rose stroked one of the TARDIS’s corals, and the TARDIS complied, turning up the heat. “Oh, um, thank you.”

“So, whole wide universe, where do you want to go?”

“Oh, I know exactly the place.” Donna answered calmly.

“Which is?”

“Two and a half miles that way.” She gestured with her head.

“What’s two and a half miles that way?” Rose asked, joining them at the console.

“My grandad is fascinated with space and aliens. He spends most of his free time up on a hill over there with his telescope. He’s the only one who’ll understand what I’m doing.”

Rose nodded knowingly. “Should we put on a bit of a show for him then?” She smiled mischievously.

The Doctor mimicked her smile and started running around the console, with Rose pushing a few more controls behind him when necessary.

“Sorry, what kind of show?”

“Open the door.” Rose told Donna.

The three of them walked over to the door, and Rose made sure Donna didn’t take a step before she saw that they were flying through the air above the hill. They could just barely make out a man with a telescope looking up at them. He started to dance around his telescope excitedly.

They flew off, but their smiles didn’t leave them. Rose picked up a few of Donna’s bags.

“Do you want to go pick out a room?” She asked, and Donna nodded, grabbing a few more bags and following Rose down the hall.

The Doctor sat on the captain’s chair and smiled. Life hadn’t been this good for him in a long, long time. 


	30. Chapter 30

Donna wandered through the halls the next morning, searching for either her friends, the kitchen, or the console room. She wandered for a while before realizing that the lights in the TARDIS kept flickering. She stayed in the hallways that stayed lit up and eventually found herself in the galley.

“Good morning!” Rose greeted.

“There’s no morning in the TARDIS.” The Doctor complained, and Donna ignored him in favor of Rose.

“Breakfast is almost ready.” Rose gestured for her to take a seat at the table.

“Hope you like banana pancakes!” The Doctor set a large stack of banana pancakes on the table, and Donna made a sour face.

“There’s regular pancakes too.” Rose set down another plate, and her eyes widened. “Doctor, why did you make so many?”

“Banana pancakes are good, Rose.”

“Well, that’s good I guess because that’s what you’re eating for breakfast every day this week.” She gestured at the entirely too tall stack of banana pancakes, and the Doctor pouted. Donna laughed as she grabbed a couple of normal pancakes and the syrup.

The Doctor and Rose joined Donna at the table and started eating.

“So, Donna, first official trip in the TARDIS. Where do you wanna go?” The Doctor asked with a mouthful of banana pancakes.

Rose elbowed him, but her amusement shone through her eyes. “Chew your food.” She turned to Donna. “Different planet, past, future…” She trailed off.

Donna looked down at her food, thinking. She hadn’t really expected them to ask her. When she found out Rose was back, she expected to just be along for the ride. “Ancient Rome?”

“Ooh, good choice. Nice vacation.”

After finishing breakfast, they made their way into the console room. The Doctor moved to pilot them to ancient Rome. They landed with a slight bump, and the three of them ran to the doors. The Doctor threw the door open with a flourish. “Ancient Rome. Well, not for them, obviously. To all intents and purposes, right now, this is brand new Rome.”

Rose laughed at her fiancé while Donna stepped out of the alcove they had parked in and looked around with wide eyes. “Oh, my God. it's, it's so Roman. This is fantastic.” The Doctor chuckled at her as she hugged them each in turn. “I'm here, in Rome. Donna Noble in Rome. This is just weird. I mean, everyone here's dead.”

Rose covered her mouth with her hand, remembering the time she called her mom from the end of the Earth.

The Doctor looked relieved at her amusement and turned to Donna, “Well, don't tell them that.

Donna ignored him and kept looking around, before turning back to them with a scowl. “Hold on a minute. That sign over there's in English.” She gestured to sign advertising the price of amphorae. “Are you having me on? Are we in Epcot?”

“The TARDIS is telepathically translating the language for you. Freaked me out the first time too.” Rose explained. “Sorry, should have thought to give you a heads-up on that one.”

“Speech as well. You're talking Latin right now.” The Doctor added.

“Seriously?” They nodded, giving her time to process. “I just said seriously in Latin.” They continued walking down the market street.

“Oh, yeah.” The Doctor’s grin grew wider, and Rose leaned into him, enjoying the happiness around her.

Donna talked animatedly, swinging her arms around. “What if I said something in actual Latin, like veni, vidi, vici? My dad said that when he came back from football. If I said veni, vidi, vici to that lot, what would it sound like?” Rose’s head jerked back slightly in surprise, and she looked to the Doctor to answer.

He rubbed at the back of his neck. “I'm not sure.” He met Donna’s gaze and complained. “You have to think of difficult questions, don't you?”

“I'm going to try it.” Donna walked toward a fruit seller, while her friends watched and listened closely.

The fruit seller greeted her, “Afternoon, sweetheart. What can I get you, my love?”

Donna hesitated briefly but spoke boldly, “Er, veni, vidi, vici.”

The fruit seller paused and scrunched his eyebrows together. He waved his arms in small circular motions as if unsure of how to mime his meaning. “Huh? Sorry? Me no speak Celtic. No can do, missy.”

“Yeah.” Donna drew out the word and walked back to the others. “How's he mean, Celtic?”

The Doctor nodded with an exaggerated frown. “Welsh. You sound Welsh. There we are. Learnt something.”

“Don't our clothes look a bit odd?” Donna asked.

“Yeah, we probably should have stopped in the wardrobe room before we left.”

“The what?” Donna asked, looking at Rose excitedly.

“I’ll take you down there soon. It’s fun.” Rose smiled at her conspiratorially as the Doctor’s face fell.

“You don’t need the wardrobe room here. Ancient Rome, anything goes. It's like Soho, but bigger.” The Doctor hated how much time Rose could spend in the wardrobe room. It was time she could be spending with him. _Ooh, that’s a bit too possessive, innit? She’d smack me if she heard that_.

“You've been here before then?” Donna asked, and Rose stifled a laugh.

“Mmm. Ages ago. Before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with me.” Rose nudged him, knowing the story perfectly well. “Well, a little bit. But I haven't got the chance to look around properly. Coliseum, Pantheon, Circus Maximus. You'd expect them to be looming by now. Where is everything? Try this way.”

Donna looked out into the distance, “Not an expert, but there's seven hills of Rome, aren't there? How come they've only got one?” Rose and the Doctor followed Donna’s gaze to see one large mountain.

Rose took a deep breath trying to combat the fear rising within her. The TARDIS’s pitying hum certainly didn’t help. She really hoped she couldn’t name that mountain, but the ground began to shake. Vendors jumped into action, trying to hold down their wares like this was commonplace.

Donna’s eyes reflected the worry in Rose’s, but she had a bit of concerning hope mixed in. Wait a minute. One mountain, with smoke. Which makes this-”

Finally, the Doctor spoke the words she’d been dreading, terror clinging onto every word. “Pompeii. We're in Pompeii. And it's volcano day.”

Rose looked up at him and tried to muster a smile. “Think Conman Jack is here somewhere?”


	31. Chapter 31

The three of them ran back through the market as fast as they could, knowing that they needed to get out of Pompeii as soon as possible, but when they threw back the curtain the TARDIS was parked behind, there was nothing.

“You're kidding. You're not telling me the Tardis has gone.” Donna glared at the Doctor.

“Okay.” The Doctor said, still staring at the empty space where he had left the TARDIS. Rose elbowed him in the side.

“Where is it then?” Donna asked again.

“You told me not to tell you.” Rose elbowed the Doctor again, unsure if she was holding back a sigh or a laugh.

“Oi. Don't get clever in Latin.” Donna replied, angrily.

The Doctor finally turned away from the empty space. “Hold on.” He walked up to the fruit seller. “Excuse me. Excuse me. There was a box. Big blue box. Big blue wooden box, just over there. Where's it gone?”

The fruit seller looked up at him proudly, “Sold it, didn't I?”

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows and scrunched his nose. “But it wasn't yours to sell.”

“It was on my patch, weren't it? I got fifteen sesterces for it. Lovely jubbly.”

“Who bought it?” Rose asked as she appeared at the Doctor’s side.

“Old Caecilius. Look, if you want to argue, why don't you take it out with him? He's on Foss Street. Big villa. Can't miss it.” He gestured the way they should go.

“Thanks.” The Doctor grumbled. “What'd he buy a big blue wooden box for?”

The man shrugged. It didn’t matter to him as long as he got paid.

“Hey, Donna we think we’ve found the TARDIS. We’ve got to go down to Foss street.” Rose told their companion when she finally joined them.

Donna shook her head. “No. Well, I found this big sort of amphitheater thing. We can start there. We can gather everyone together. Maybe they've got a great big bell or something we could ring. Have they invented bells yet?”

“What do you want a bell for?” The Doctor looked at her with confusion, and Rose tried to pull Donna to the side.

“Donna, we can’t-”

Donna ignored her and kept talking to the Doctor. “To warn everyone. Start the evacuation. What time does Vesuvius erupt? When's it due?”

His face hardened then, “It's 79AD, twenty third of August, which makes volcano day tomorrow.”

Donna shook her head, with some amount of relief mixed in with her hurry. “Plenty of time. We could get everyone out easy.”

“Yeah, except we're not going to.” The Doctor tried to grab her hand to pull her down the street, but she pulled out of his grasp.

“But that's what you do. You're the Doctor. You save people.” Donna’s face was full of betrayal.

“Doctor, go on ahead.” Rose told him. “We’ll be right behind you.”

“No, I want to hear from his mouth why these people aren’t worth saving!”

“He doesn’t think they’re not worth saving. Don’t you dare put that on him. We can’t save them Donna. There are things about time travel that you don’t understand yet.”

The Doctor looked down the street, wishing this explanation could wait until they were safely in the vortex, but the universe really didn’t like to make things easy for him. “Pompeii is a fixed point in history. What happens, happens. There is no stopping it.”

“Says who?” Donna sassed back.

“Says me.” The Doctor answered in the same attitude.

“What, and you're in charge?” Rose sighed as they continued to argue. This was getting them nowhere.

“Tardis, Time Lord, yeah.”

“Donna, human, no. I don't need your permission. I'll tell them myself.”

The Doctor jutted out his chin, his anger rising. He waved his hands to the side of his face. “You stand in the market place announcing the end of the world, they'll just think you're a mad old soothsayer. Now, come on. Tardis. We are getting out of here.” He began running down the street, trusting that she’d follow, if for no other reason than to keep arguing. 

“Well, I might just have something to say about that, Spaceman.”

“Oh, I bet you will.” The Doctor shook his head as he ran. Donna finally started to run, and Rose stayed behind her to make sure she followed.

Eventually they caught up to the Doctor outside a large villa. They ran inside as the Earth started shaking again. The Doctor caught a marble bust, as another man came running to catch it from the other side.

“Whoa! There you go.” The Doctor said to the man as he pushed the bust back onto the little shelf it had fallen from.

The man sighed in relief, “Thank you, kind sir. I'm afraid business is closed for the day. I'm expecting a visitor.”

The Doctor shook the man’s hand and walked further into his home. “But that's me, I'm a visitor. Hello.”

“Who are you?” His eyebrows pulled together.

“I am Spartacus.” The Doctor claimed, “And this is my wife.” He pointed to Rose.

“And you are?” He asked Donna.

“I’m Spartacus as well.” Donna answered, not being able to think of a period appropriate name.

“Oh, then brother and sister? Yes, of course. You look very much alike.” Rose laughed a little at the Doctor and Donna’s side glances at each other.

“Really?” They questioned in tandem. Rose covered her mouth to keep from laughing too hard. The last half of their argument earlier certainly sounded like siblings.

The older looking gentleman tried to reorient himself. “I'm sorry, but I'm not open for trade.”

“And that trade would be?” The Doctor looked around, exaggeratedly.

The man put a hand over his heart and spoke proudly, “Marble. Lopus Caecilius. Mining, polishing and design thereof. If you want marble, I'm your man.”

“That's good. That's good because I'm the marble inspector.” The Doctor reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his psychic paper. He walked past Caecilius and into a room where a woman and a young man were waiting. Rose and Donna followed him and looked around the room.

The woman spoke up, “By the gods of commerce, an inspection. I'm sorry, sir. I do apologize for my son.” She took a goblet of wine away from her son and dumped it into a decorative pool.

“Oi.” The young man complained.

Caecilius faked a smile and gestured to the woman. “And this is my good wife, Metella. I must confess, we're not prepared for a-”

“Nothing to worry about. I'm, I'm sure you've nothing to hide. Although, frankly, that object looks rather like wood to me.” The Doctor pointed to the TARDIS, and he and Rose made their way over to it, Donna following close behind.

The TARDIS buzzed a warning to Rose. _You’re here for a reason._ She told Rose.

“I told you to get rid of it.” Metella lectured under her breath.

“I only bought it today.” Caecilius’s nervous voice brought her back to the conversation.

“Ah, well. Caveat emptor.” The Doctor clicked his tongue.

“Oh, you're Celtic. That's lovely.”

“I'm sure it's fine, but I might have to take it off your hands for a proper inspection.” The Doctor grimaced a little too hard to be believable, but Caecilius was too nervous to notice.

“Although while we're here, wouldn't you recommend a holiday, Spartacus?” Donna pushed.

The Doctor met her eyes and spoke as evenly as he could while still trying to warn Donna to back off, “Don't know what you mean, Spartacus.”

Rose reached out to the TARDIS telepathically. _Can we save them? Just them, without ruining things._ The TARDIS’s answering hum felt like a nod. _Is that why we’re here?_ The TARDIS groaned in her mind, apologizing for something in their near future. This was never going to be a happy trip.

Rose turned back to the Doctor and Donna’s mini argument. “Oh, this lovely family. Mother and father and son. Don't you think they should get out of town?”

Caecilius looked like he had never been more confused in his life. Why should an inspector want him to take his family for a holiday? Should he be offended? “Why should we do that?”

“Well, the volcano, for starters.” Donna seized the opportunity she thought she saw.

“What?”

“Volcano.”

“What-ano?”

Rose looked around, completely unsure how she could help any of them. She needed to help Donna understand, she needed to convince the Doctor he could save one family, just like she knew he had done before the Titanic set sail, and she needed to keep the family’s trust, so they would actually come with them. Unfortunately, Rose knew none of these would be easy tasks.

“That great big volcano right on your doorstep.” Donna pushed.

The Doctor grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. “Oh, Spartacus, for shame. We haven't even greeted the household gods yet.”


	32. Chapter 32

The Doctor grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. “Oh, Spartacus, for shame. We haven't even greeted the household gods yet.” He splashed a little water on the carving of the household gods. “They don't know what it is. Vesuvius is just a mountain to them. The top hasn't blown off yet. The Romans haven't even got a word for volcano. Not until tomorrow.”

“Oh, great, they can learn a new word as they die.” She spoke pointedly.

“Donna, stop it.” Rose warned. She felt a sinking feeling that whatever happened today and tomorrow would be worst for the Doctor. She couldn’t let Donna make it harder.

“Listen, I don't know where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing, but you're not telling me to shut up. That boy, how old is he, sixteen? And tomorrow he burns to death.”

“And that's my fault?” the Doctor asked, trying to mask his hurt in anger.

“Right now, yes.” Donna responded.

“Donna, you’re right. You don’t know what I’ve been up to or what he’s been doing, so trust the people who have been dealing with time longer than you. We can’t.” Rose tried to school her voice. She thought back to when she tried to help her mom when Tony had been a stubborn teen. Donna may not be a stubborn teenager, but she wasn’t going to respond well to an angry lecture any better than Tony had. “I’ve tried to change time before to save someone. It didn’t go well.”

Rose was about to continue telling Donna the story when a doorman spoke, “Announcing Lucius Petrus Dextrus, Chief Augur of the City Government.” In walked a middle-aged man with a cloak covering his right half.

“Lucius. My pleasure, as always.” Caecilius greeted him warmly.

“Quintus, stand up.” Metella ordered, and he reluctantly stood and faced the new guest.

“A rare and great honor, sir, for you to come to my house.” Caecilius reached out for a handshake, but Lucius did not take his hand.

After an awkward pause, the newcomer spoke, “The birds are flying north, and the wind is in the west.”

Caecilius nodded. “Quite. Absolutely. That's good, is it?”

“Only the grain of wheat knows where it will grow.” The augur smirked.

Caecilius turned to his wife. “There now, Metella. Have you ever heard such wisdom?”

“Never. It's an honor.”

Caecilius took a few steps back toward them and gestured to them as he introduced each of them. “Pardon me, sir. I have guests. This is Mr. and Mrs. Spartacus and, er, Spartacus.”

“A name is but a cloud upon a summer wind.” Rose flinched a little as the augur spoke. While he could just be saying he didn’t care about their names, he could be suggesting he knew their names were fake. Rose wasn’t a fan of prophecies anyway, she got enough of that from the devil of Krop Tor.

“But the wind is felt most keenly in the dark.” The Doctor replied.

“Ah. But what is the dark, other than an omen of the sun?” Lucius walked towards them, challengingly.

“I concede that every sun must set.”

“Ha.” Lucius mocked before the Doctor continued.

“And yet the son of the father must also rise.” The Doctor gestured over at Quintus.

“Very clever, sir. Evidently, a man of learning.” Lucius acknowledged.

The Doctor threw his head back and to the side, making a big show of it. “Oh, yes. But don't mind me. Don't want to disturb the status quo.”

“He's Celtic.” Caecilius excused.

“We'll be off in a minute.” Rose told the group. The Doctor grabbed Donna by both shoulders and led her back to the TARDIS, but Rose lingered as Caecilius led Lucius to something covered in a red cloth.

“I'm not going.” Donna argued.

Caecilius ignored the brewing argument. “It's ready, sir.”

“You've got to.” The Doctor told Donna, quietly.

“Well, I'm not.”

“The moment of revelation. And here it is.” Caecilius lifted the cloth to reveal a stone tile, with a pattern like a circuit board, that most definitely did not belong in ancient Pompeii. It was very wrong, and the Doctor seemed to have noticed as well. He stopped trying to lead Donna away. “Exactly as you specified. It pleases you, sir?” Caecilius questioned.

Lucius inspected the stone and without breaking his gaze answered, “As the rain pleases the soil.”

The Doctor and Donna started walking back toward them. “Oh, now that's different. Who designed that, then?”

Lucius scowled as Caecilius explained, “My Lord Lucius was very specific.”

“Where'd you get the pattern?” The Doctor asked.

“On the rain and mist and wind.” Came his vague reply.

“But that looks like a circuit.” Donna observed aloud.

The Doctor added with a quiet wonder. “Made of stone.”

“Do you mean you just dreamt that thing up?” Donna asked in disbelief.

Lucius gave her a condescending smile, “That is my job, as City Augur.”

“What's that, then, like the mayor?” Given the faces in the room, Rose guessed that was the wrong thing to say, but she wasn’t really sure what his role was.

The Doctor smiled, addressing the group. “Oh, ha. You must excuse my friend, she's from Barcelona.” He turned and whispered to Donna, but Rose listened in. “No, but this is an age of superstition. Of official superstition. The Augur is paid by the city to tell the future. The wind will blow from the west? That's the equivalent of ten o'clock news.”

A young woman walked into the room, swaying slightly, unsteady on her feet. “They're laughing at us. Those two, they use words like tricksters. They're mocking us.”

The Doctor turned to her and started rambling, “No, no, I'm not. I meant no offence.”

Metella, ever the lady, walked to her daughter and waved off her behavior, “I'm sorry. My daughter's been consuming the vapors.”

Quintus walked over with a somewhat quiet anger. “Oh for gods, Mother. What have you been doing to her?” He held onto his sister offering her the protection Rose believed she needed. At least this young woman had someone looking after her.

“Not now, Quintus.” His father chastened.

Rose smiled proudly at him as he fought back. “Yeah, but she's sick. Just look at her.”

Lucius drew the attention back to him, “I gather I have a rival in this household. Another with the gift.”

Metella’s eye’s filled with pride, “Oh, she's been promised to the Sibylline Sisterhood. They say she has remarkable visions.”

Lucius scowled, looking down on them, though they were still up the stairs, “The prophecies of women are limited and dull. Only the menfolk have the capacity for true perception.”

Donna, who was already at her wits end, took a few steps toward Lucius. “I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate.” The ground shook again, though not as intensely.


	33. Chapter 33

When the ground finished rumbling, Lucius warned Donna, “The Mountain God marks your words. I'd be careful, if I were you.”

“Consuming the vapours, you say?” The Doctor asked.

“They give me strength.” Evelina answered weakly, and Rose moved toward her to help her sit, but she refused to take a seat.

“It doesn't look like it to me.” The Doctor replied.

“Is that your opinion as a doctor?” The three time travelers’ eyes went wide.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Doctor. That's your name.” She repeated.

“How did you know that?”

Eveline refused to answer, instead turning to Donna. “And you. You call yourself Noble.” Then she turned to Rose. “And you, some sort of Wolf.”

“Now then, Evelina. Don't be rude.” Her mother chastened.

“No, no, no, no. Let her talk.” The Doctor invited, and Rose agreed. Maybe they could finally get some answers as to why the TARDIS brought them here.

“You both come from so far away.” Evelina looked though them more than at them, as if she was seeing their travels even as she spoke.

Lucius inserted himself back into the conversation. “The female soothsayer is inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries.”

“A bit spot on, actually.” Rose’s voice betrayed her nerves even as she attempted to fight the sexism. Lucius scowled at her but turned to the Doctor as he spoke.

“Oh, not this time, Lucius. No, I reckon you've been out-soothsayed.” The Doctor has less of Rose’s hesitation and more curiosity.

“Is that so, man from Gallifrey?” Lucius challenged.

“What?” The Doctor’s back hunched over, and his mouth stayed in an “O” shape.

“The strangest of images. Your home is lost in fire, is it not?” As Lucius pressed, the Doctor back up a little, and Rose quickly moved to her fiancé’s side. He gripped her hand tightly. Lucius stared at Rose. “The girl who burned like the sun. Her mind scorched.” Rose felt a familiar heat in her eyes and begged Bad Wolf not to show through. The heat faded.

“Doctor, what are they doing?” Donna asked, an air of both fear and confusion in her voice.

Lucius turned to her, “And you, daughter of London.”

“How does he know that?” Donna asked again, but they had no explanation to give her.

Lucius held his head up proudly, even as he looked down on the travelers, “This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth.”

Donna’s voice came out breathlessly, and a glimmer of fear shone in her eyes, “That's impossible.” She may be new to time travel, but she knew none of this was right.

“Even the word Doctor is false.” Evelina added. “Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord of Time.”

Her mother screamed her name as she fainted. Her brother grabbed onto her and carried her to her room. Donna and Rose followed, leaving the Doctor to deal with Lucius.

“She didn't mean to be rude.” Metella apologized as she fanned Evelina. “She's ever such a good girl, but when the gods speak through her…”

Rose sat beside Evelina. “What's wrong with her arm?”

Metella bowed her head, almost in shame, but also refusing any blame, “An irritation of the skin. She never complains, bless her. We bathe it in olive oil every night.”

“What is it?” Donna asked.

Metella’s eyes filled with worry. “Evelina said you'd come from far away. Please, have you ever seen anything like it?”

Donna looked over at Rose, but Rose just shook her head. She reached out to touch the rash but hesitated a moment before feeling her arm. “It's stone.”

~.~

“The vapors, you said.” The Doctor addressed Caecilius after Lucius fled. “Vapors from where?” He finally looked up to Caecilius.

“The hypocaust, of course.”

“Of course, of course.” He walked over to the hypocaust and removed the grating. “Different sort of hypocaust?”

Caecilius spoke, voice filled with pride, “Oh, yes. We're very advanced in Pompeii. In Rome, they're still using the old wood-burning furnaces, but we've got hot springs, leading from Vesuvius itself.

The Doctor continued to examine the hypocaust. “Who thought of that?”

The older looking gentleman was confused by the question. _Shouldn’t that be obvious?_ “The soothsayers, after the great earthquake, seventeen years ago. An awful lot of damage. But we rebuilt.”

“Didn't you think of moving away?” The Doctor shook his head at his own question. “Oh no, then again, San Francisco.”

“That's a new restaurant in Naples, isn't it?”

The Doctor ignored his question, not bothering to cover his mistake. It wouldn’t matter tomorrow anyway. “What's that noise?” He stuck his head a little farther into the hypocaust, listening to the echoing thumping sound.

“Don't know. Happens all the time. They say the gods of the Underworld are stirring.”

“But after the earthquake, let me guess. Is that when the soothsayers started making sense?”

Caecilius nodded. “Oh, yes, very much so. I mean, they'd always been, shall we say, imprecise? But then the soothsayers, the augurs, the haruspex, all of them, they saw the truth again and again. It's quite amazing. They can predict crops and rainfall with absolute precision.”

The Doctor removed his head from the hypocaust long enough to spare a quizzical glance at Caecilius. “Haven't they said anything about tomorrow?”

Caecilius returned his quizzical look with one of his own, “No. Why, should they? Why do you ask?”

The Doctor shook his head. _Perhaps it’s better this way. They don’t need to live in fear._ “No, no. No reason. I'm just asking. But the soothsayers, they all consume the vapours, yeah?”

“That's how they see.” Caecilius shook his head. The Doctor knew his cover as an inspector was long gone. Quintus returned from his sister’s room and reclined on the couch.

 _I’m sure Rose is wondering why they are allowing us to stay here._ The Doctor smiled to himself. “Ipso facto.”

“Look you.” Caecilius was losing his patience. Perhaps, the Doctor had thought too soon.

“They're all consuming this.” He scooped a handful of dust out of the hypocaust.

“Dust.”

“Tiny particles of rock. They're breathing in Vesuvius.” He walked over to the couch where Quintus was relaxing with a drink.

“Quintus, me old son. This Lucius Petrus Dextrus. Where does he live?”

“It's nothing to do with me.” Quintus answered emotionlessly.

“Let me try again. This Lucius Petrus Dextrus.” The Doctor reached behind the young man’s ear and pulled out a coin. “Where does he live?”

The young man sat up, with wide-eyed curiosity, and the Doctor handed him the coin. “It’s not too far. I’ll take you.”


	34. Chapter 34

Metella frowned at Rose and Donna. “Your robes are from a distant place, yes?” Rose nodded. “Might I offer you a change of clothes before you start a riot?”

“Yes, please. That would be very kind of you.” Rose accepted, and she and Donna followed her into another room. “These should fit you.” She held out a dress for each of them and they took them gratefully.

Metella left them to change and returned to her daughter’s side.

“So, what were you saying earlier?” Donna asked. “What could have happened when you changed time that would justify letting an entire city burn to death?”

Rose sighed heavily as she undressed. This was far from a happy memory, even if she did get to meet her real dad. “There are these things called reapers. The Doctor said they were like bacteria taking advantage of the wound in time.” Rose paused, fighting back the images that came to mind. “They took people, wiped them from existence. They took the Doctor. That was the first time I killed him.”

Donna was taken aback by that statement and filed it away for a later interrogation, but for now, she needed to convince Rose to convince the Doctor that these people were worth the consequences. “But the Doctor’s still here.”

“When time healed, when what I changed happened again,” she hung her head and fought back the tears that threatened to fall, thinking of her father’s sacrifice, “Everything came back, including the Doctor. But, Donna, if we save these people, we won’t be able to go back and undo it. The TARDIS didn’t work when the reapers came, and if the reapers came here, which they would, we wouldn’t be able to stop them. They would destroy a lot more than just Pompeii. We can’t save them all, but we should be able to save this family. Not everyone has to die for history to survive.” Rose met Donna’s gaze as she explained, begging the other woman to understand.

“What did you change?” Donna asked. “Certainly, nothing like this.”

“I saved one man that was supposed to die. Just one, and the reapers came. Pompeii is a fixed point in time It can’t be changed. The consequences would be so much worse.” Rose tried to push the conversation back toward the matter at hand.

“Who?” Donna pressed.

“My dad.” Rose admitted as she busied herself tying off the sash on her dress.

“Oh, I’m-” Donna stopped. Sorry just didn’t seem right.

Rose walked back toward Evelina’s room, hoping Donna would follow without asking any more questions.

By the time they made it back to Evelina’s room, she was sitting up and talking again. She laughed as they entered, wearing her mother’s clothes.

“You're not supposed to laugh. Thanks for that.” Donna struck a dramatic pose. “What do you think? The Goddess Venus.”

Evelina looked at her in surprise. “Oh, that's sacrilege.”

Donna smiled at the young girl, trying to put off the awkwardness she felt. “Nice to see you laugh, though. What do you do in old Pompeii, then, girls your age? You got mates? Do you go hanging about round the shops? TK Maximus?”

“I am promised to the Sisterhood for the rest of my life.” Evelina answered dutifully.

Rose narrowed her eyes, “Don’t you get any choice in that?”

Evelina shook her head. “It's not my decision. The Sisters chose for me. I have the gift of sight.”

Rose placed a hand on Donna’s arm silently begging her to follow along with her next question without pressing the issue. “Do you see anything important happening tomorrow?” She asked as casually as she could.

“Is tomorrow special?” Evelina clearly wasn’t fooled by Rose’s assumed nonchalance.

Rose sighed in relief as Donna backed her up, “You tell me. What do you see?”

Evelina shook her head in confusion but humored her guests, “The sun will rise, the sun will set. Nothing special at all.

“What about the earthquakes that have been goin’ on? Do they get any worse?” Rose asked.

Once again, Evelina shook her head. “Tomorrow promises a normal day in Pompeii. The gods are pleased with us.”

“You’re sure?” Donna asked again.

Evelina didn’t answer, only covered her eyes to seek the help of the sisterhood. She sought to ease the minds of her guests, but she did not think they would be swayed.

Rose felt slight tremors leading to the house, nothing as large as earlier in the day, but rhythmic enough for her to worry about what the Doctor had gotten himself into. She stood and walked to the main common area of the house and Donna, Evelina, and Metella followed her. As they got closer to the hypocaust, the noise grew louder.

Metella was the first to speak, “What is it? What's that noise?”

“Doesn't sound like Vesuvius.” Caecilius mused.

The Doctor ran into the house, with Quintus close on his heels. “Caecilius? All of you, get out.”

“Doctor, what is it?” Donna yelled.

“I think we're being followed.” He answered as the grill covering the hypocaust flew off, and a large creature of stone and fire appeared before them. “Just get out!” He yelled as the family continued to stare at the creature as if they themselves were made of stone.

“The gods are with us.” Evelina’s voice held equal great respect, but it was fear that made sweat drip from her brow.

“Water.” The Doctor ordered. “We need water. Quintus. All of you, get water. Rose! Donna!” The two women, as well and Quintus and a slave rushed off to find water.

One of the household staff spoke in awe, “Blessed are we to see the gods.” But his reverence did not entreat the creature to spare him, and the giant breathed on him, turning him instantly to ashes.

“Talk to me.” The Doctor ducked down, making himself appear smaller and threw his hands out. “That's all I want. Talk to me. Just tell me you are. Don't hurt these people.”

The Doctor was too focused on dealing with the stone creature in front of him to notice his two companions muffled screams as members of the sisterhood grabbed them as they returned with the buckets they had collected. Evelina stared at the sisters in confusion, but she dared not speak up.

“Talk to me. I'm the Doctor. Just tell me who you are.”

Quintus and the slave made it back with buckets and scooped water out of the fishpond and threw it at the giant creature. Its fire was extinguished, and it crumbled to the floor with a sizzle and a short thud.

Caecilius loosened his hold on his wife. “What was it?”

The Doctor barely spared the family a glance as he stared at the remains of the creature, “Carapace of stone, held together by internal magma. Not too difficult to stop, but I reckon that's just the foot soldier.”

“Doctor, or whatever your name is, you bring bad luck on this house.” Metella’s dark words drew his attention.

He tilted her head at her and gestured toward Quintus, “I thought your son was brilliant. Aren't you going to thank him?” He turned his back on the family as the parents finally acknowledged their son. “Still, Rose, if there are aliens at work in Pompeii, it's a good thing we stayed.” He held out his hand before noticing that Rose had not yet joined him again. “Rose? Rose!” He looked around the room. “Donna? Donna? Donna!” He noticed Evelina’s fearful and worried look. “Do you know where they are?”

She nodded.

“Where?” As soon as he had his answer he took off running.


	35. Chapter 35

It was late at night, but it still infuriated Donna and Rose that few people bothered to check who was screaming and those that did weren’t willing to help. The women in strange makeup continued to drag them away from Caecilius’s house and down streets they had not yet explored. Finally, they reached a temple where several more women wore the same makeup.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Donna exclaimed as two more women grabbed hold of her and tied her to an altar in the center of the temple.

“Leave her alone!” Rose yelled. “Take me instead!”

“Are you crazy?” Donna yelled at her friend.

“Trust me Donna. It wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened to me, and I doubt it’ll be the last.”

Rose’s pleas were ignored, and one of the priestesses stood over Donna with a knife.

“Leave her alone!” Rose yelled again, fighting against her captors’ grips. More women came to her sides to hold her down, eventually managing to tie her a post. Rose could hear the Doctor’s quiet footsteps just outside the temple. He paced a little, trying to figure out what was going on inside. She reached out telepathically, hoping she could show him what she was seeing even without touching him.

The woman holding a knife over Donna’s throat spoke up, “The unbelievers will surrender both their blood and her breath.”

“I'll surrender you in a minute. Don't you dare.” Donna bit back at her, pulling against her restraints.

“You will be silent.” The priestess ordered.

“Listen, sister, you might have eyes on the back of your hands, but you'll have eyes in the back of your head by the time I've finished with you. Let me go!” Donna yelled.

The Doctor grabbed Rose’s wrists from behind the curtain next to her. She forced herself not to smile. She felt the bands on her hands loosen, and the Doctor’s whisper of “Stay” reached her in time.

“This prattling voice will cease forever.” The priestess raised the knife.

“Oh, that'll be the day.” The Doctor walked into the room casually before the woman could thrust down the knife. Rose chuckled but also rolled her eyes, and the Doctor looked over at her with all the brightness of the sun.

“No man is allowed to enter the Temple of Sibyl.” She sneered.

“Well, that's all right.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Just us girls. Do you know, I met the Sibyl once. Yeah, hell of a woman. Blimey, she could dance the Tarantella. Nice teeth. Truth be told, I think she had a bit of a thing for me. I said it would never last.” He looked apologetically at Rose, and she raised an eyebrow at him, disapprovingly. “She said, I know. Well, she would. You alright there?” He faced Donna while still meandering around the temple.

“Oh, never better.” Donna stared up at him now that he had reached the head of the altar.

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, “I like the toga.”

“Thank you. And the ropes?”

“Yeah, not so much.” He used the sonic to free her from the restraints.

“What magic is this?” The priestess looked Donna up and down as she sat up.

The Doctor leaned up against the altar as Donna moved farther from it, and he addressed all the priestesses, looking each of them in the eyes, “Let me tell you about the Sibyl, the founder of this religion. She would be ashamed of you. All her wisdom and insight turned sour. Is that how you spread the word, hey? On the blade of a knife?”

“Yes, a knife that now welcomes you.” The priestess raised the knife to him but stopped as another voice came from behind a curtain in the back of the temple.

“Show me this man.” The voice was weak but commanding. All of the priestesses, except the one with the knife, knelt.

“High Priestess, the stranger would defile us.” The knife wielder argued.

“Let me see. This one is different. He carries starlight in his wake.”

The Doctor nodded and turned to the voice, “Oh, very perceptive. Where do these words of wisdom come from?”

“The gods whisper to me.”

“They've done far more than that. Might I beg audience? Look upon the High Priestess?” His request was granted as two of the priestesses pulled back the curtains revealing the High Priestess. Her entire body was stone.

“Oh, my God. What's happened to you?” Donna placed a hand over her mouth.

“The heavens have blessed me.”

“If I might?” The Doctor approached her carefully, holding out a hand to her. His other hand made a “come here” gesture behind his back, and Rose quietly came to stand beside Donna, just a couple steps behind the Doctor. The High Priestess held her hand out to him and allowed him to inspect her stone skin. “Does it hurt?”

“It is necessary.”

“Who told you that?” Rose asked gently.

“The voices.” She answered quickly.

Donna asked desperately, panicking, “Is that what's going to happen to Evelina? Is this what's going to happen to all of you?”

The woman who had tried to sacrifice her approached her again, revealing a stone wrist. “The blessings are manifold.” Her voice was even, bearing no fear or regret, only reverence. Rose had to admire her commitment, even if they were a little crazy.

“They're stone.” Donna directed her focus back to the Doctor. Rose looked to each of the lower priestesses who now showed her similar patches of stone where there should be skin.

The Doctor stood and walked back to Donna and Rose. “Exactly. The people of Pompeii are turning to stone before the volcano erupts. But why?”

The High Priestess addresses him again. “This word, this image in your mind. This volcano. What is that?”

The Doctor faced her again, and his voice rose with every word, “More to the point, why don't you know about it? Who are you?”

“High Priestess of the Sibylline.” She answered.

“No, no, no, no. I'm talking to the creature inside you. The thing that's seeding itself into a human body, in the dust, in the lungs, taking over the flesh and turning it into, what?” His face turned into a scowl, daring the creature to fight.

“Your knowledge is impossible.” The High Priestess answered.

The Doctor shook his head and the crease between his eyebrows faded, offering a more peaceful challenge to the creature inside her. “Oh, but you can read my mind. You know it's not. I demand you tell me who you are.”

(The High Priestess speaks with two voices, her own and one deeper, which takes over.)

When the High Priestess spoke again, it was with two voices: her own and one deeper than she should have been capable of, “We are awakening.”

“The voice of the gods.” The other priestess spoke.

The rest of the priestesses chanted, “Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom…”

“Name yourself. Planet of origin. Galactic coordinates. Species designation according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation.” The Doctor ordered forcefully, and Rose stood beside him and took his hand.

“We are rising.”

“Tell me your name!” His anger rose.

“Pyrovile.” The deeper, echo-y, voice yelled. The High Priestess stood.

“Pyrovile. Pyrovile. Pyrovile.” The sisters chanted as they rocked on their knees.

“What's a Pyrovile?” Donna stood on the Doctor’s other side.

“Well, that's a Pyrovile, growing inside her. She's a halfway stage.” He spoke out of the corner of his mouth not looking away from the High Priestess. Rose’s grip on his hand tightened.

“The thing at the villa,” Rose winced. “Is that what she’ll become?”

“That was an adult Pyrovile.” The Doctor half answered.

“And the breath of a Pyrovile will incinerate you, Doctor.” The High Priestess approached them threateningly.

The Doctor removed a yellow, plastic water pistol from his coat pocket, and Rose clenched her jaw in a desperate attempt not to laugh at the threat. “I warn you, I'm armed.” He gestured toward the hypocaust with his head, “Get that grill open.”

“What for?” Donna asked as she and Rose moved toward it.

“Just.” He sighed heavily. “What are the Pyrovile doing here?”

“We fell from the heavens. We fell so far and so fast, we were rendered into dust.”

“Right, creatures of stone shattered on impact. When was that, seventeen years ago?”

“We have slept beneath for thousands of years.” The creature answered.

The Doctor nodded more to himself than to the Pyrovile, “Okay, so seventeen years ago woke you up, and now you're using human bodies to reconstitute yourselves. But why the psychic powers?”

“We opened their minds and found such gifts.” The creature opened its arms wide.

He tilted his head back and forth, annoyed with the unspecific answers, “Okay, that's fine, so you force yourself inside a human brain, use the latent psychic talent to bond. I get that, I get that, yeah. But seeing the future? That is way beyond psychic. You can see through time. Where does the gift of prophecy come from?”

“Got it.” Donna called to him as she and Rose lifted the grate off of the hypocaust.

“Now get down.” He ordered.

“What, down there?” Donna knit her eyebrows together and looked down inside.

“Yes, down there. Why can't this lot predict a volcano? Why is it being hidden?” He looked back and forth between his companions and the Pyrovile.

The priestess with the knife threw back her head, “Sisters, I see into his mind. The weapon is harmless.”

Rose helped Donna into the hypocaust.

“Yeah, but it's got to sting.” The squirted water at the High Priestess, and she screamed in pain. “Get down, Rose!” He ran towards her, and when she saw him finally coming, she slipped down.


	36. Chapter 36

Inside the sweltering tunnel, the time travelers caught their breath. The Doctor kissed Rose on the forehead. “Jeopardy friendly.” He muttered into her hair.

Donna shook her head as she stood up, “You fought her off with a water pistol. I bloody love you.”

The Doctor started down the tunnel, holding tightly to Rose’s hand. “This way.” He called behind him.

“Where are we going now?” Donna asked, following behind the couple.

“Into the volcano.” The Doctor said as if it was the most reasonable request in the world.

Donna emphatically shook her head. “No way.”

“Yes, way. Appian way.”

“Why does this feel like a Ms. Frizzle field trip?” Rose muttered under her breath.

They started walking through the vent tunnels, and the heat grew harder and harder to bare, and Donna felt it the worst.

“But if it's aliens setting off the volcano, doesn't that make it all right for you to stop it?” Donna asked with a cursory glance at Rose. She hadn’t forgotten their earlier conversation, but she still couldn’t see why they couldn’t interfere.

“Still part of history.” The Doctor answered over his shoulder.

“But I'm history to you. You saved me in 2008. You saved us all. Why is that different?”

He shook his head. It wasn’t very easy to explain, and his focus needed to be elsewhere, but she deserved an answer. Rose rubbed circles on his hand with her thumb. “Some things are fixed, some things are in flux. Pompeii is fixed.”

“How do you know which is which?” Donna pressed.

The Doctor stopped and turned to her. “Because that's how I see the universe. Every waking second, I can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not. That's the burden of a Time Lord, Donna. And I'm the only one left.” Rose stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, a silent reminder of “there’s me.”

Roaring echoed through the tunnels.

“They know we're here.” Rose pointed out. 

“Come on.” The Doctor started walking again and the ladies followed. The tunnel let out to a large cavern populated by fully grown Pyroviles. **“** It's the heart of Vesuvius. We're right inside the mountain.”

“There's tons of them.” Donna gasped for air in the heat. The three of them ducked behind a rock to avoid being seen.

“What's that thing?” The Doctor pulled out a monocular and pointed it at something with a light inside on the far side of the cavern.

“Oh, you better hurry up and think of something. Rocky fall’s on its way.” Donna ordered.

“That's how they arrived. Or what's left of it. Escape pod? Prison ship? Gene bank?”

“Why the volcano?” Rose asked.

“Maybe it erupts, and they launch themselves back into space or something?” Donna suggested.

The Doctor shook his head in fear and resignation. “Oh, it's worse than that.”

Rose closed her eyes against what she knew must be coming. The TARDIS brought and kept them here for a reason, and she knew the reason wasn’t good.

Donna’s eyes widened. “How could it be worse?” She looked up at as the noise around them got louder. “Doctor, it's getting closer.”

“Look,” Rose pointed to Lucius at the ridge on the other side of the cavern.

Lucius shouted, “Heathens defile us. They would desecrate your temple, my lord gods.”

“Come on.” The Doctor rose but stayed in a crouch position.

“We can't go in.” Donna argued.

“Well, we can't go back.” The Doctor started moving and the two women followed.

“Crush them. Burn them.” Lucius ordered his gods, and a Pyrovile appeared in front of the time travelers. The Doctor squirted it with his water pistol, and the three of them took off running. “There is nowhere to run, Doctor, and daughters of London.”

The travelers reached the remnant of the Pyrovillian ship. The Doctor stopped just outside of the pod and motioned for Rose and Donna to get in the pod. Neither obeyed, they refused to leave him. 

“Now then, Lucius, my lords, Pyrovillian, don't get yourselves in a lather. In a lava?” He tilted his head at the Pyroviles and Lucius but received no laughter. “No?” He turned to Rose and Donna, but they just shook their heads at him. Rose smiled at him lovingly. He sighed, “No. But if I might beg the wisdom of the gods before we perish. Once this new race of creatures is complete, then what?”

Lucius answered for them, “My masters will follow the example of Rome itself. An almighty empire, bestriding the whole of civilization.” He smirked, and Rose scoffed at his pride. How could he genuinely believe that he would be ruling alongside them if they succeeded?

“But if you've crashed, and you've got all this technology, why don't you just go home?” Donna asked, and the Doctor looked at her with pride.

 _Good,_ Rose thought. She had been worried that they would have issues after this trip. Rose could sense they needed Donna, and she wasn’t ready to let their friend go.

“The Heaven of Pyrovillia is gone.” Lucius answered. Rose’s eyes turned gold, and the Doctor narrowed his eyes.

Donna flinched a little. “Why do your eyes do that whenever a planet goes missing?” She asked then blinked rapidly. “How did I ask that question?” Rose laughed, but she didn’t have an answer for either question.

The Doctor turned his attention back to Lucius, “What do you mean, gone? Where's it gone?”

“It was taken. Pyrovillia is lost.” Lucius sensed the Pyroviles growing weary of the topic.

“The stars are going out.” Rose mumbled under her breath. The Doctor glanced at her quickly but decided that comment would have to wait.

“But there is heat enough in this world for a new species to rise.” He spread his arms wide.

The Doctor scratched the back of his neck, “Yeah, I should warn you, it's seventy percent water out there.”

Lucius narrowed his eyes at the Doctor and spoke condescendingly, “Water can boil. And everything will burn, Doctor.”

“Then the whole planet is at stake. Thank you. That's all I needed to know. Donna, Rose.” He gestured into the pod and turned to follow them inside. He locked the doors with his sonic screwdriver then started to examine the circuit boards again.


End file.
